The PC

Alfie the Meganium didn't know what the mysterious PC was, but judging from her friends' reactions, she couldn't help but experience a great sense of dread. Talk of the PC had come several days before, when Lyra had made the announcement that, "Alfie and Yami will be leaving us for a few short days."

Alfie was not comforted by Lyra's chipper, "But don't worry, they'll be back!"

She decided to ask Epsilon first, because he was the only one who wasn't biting his nails with anxiety. She unfortunately regretted her decision shortly afterward, since she knew she shouldn't have expected anything more than vague riddles and a quirky smile.

"The PC is a place suspended in time," the Lucario had explained. He had been sitting with his legs crossed in the grass, his hands pointedly turned upwards on his knees, and his crimson eyes halfway closed. "When you go there, you lose track of all things, including your own name, purpose, and even existence."

Alfie had rolled her eyes. "You're useless."

And Epsilon had smiled. "Only sometimes, little lady."

So Alfie confided with Yami the Gengar, who didn't seem to think going to the PC was a big deal at all. "I don't like the look that Étoile's giving me," she said, trying to avoid the Lapras's teary eyes. "She keeps giving me random hugs. I mean, not like she doesn't already do that. You don't think we'll get…hurt in the PC, do you?"

Yami chewed on a sandwich, then glanced at her with an irritated expression. "I don't think she's worried about our safety," he said. "More likely, she's scared that we'll be stuck in there forever. Thankfully, I wouldn't mind—"

"Wait, forever?"

"—being stuck in there with you—"

"You mean…there's a possibility that we won't come BACK?"

"—given the possibility that you're so fat and will take up all twenty-four boxes—"

"Oh, for crying out loud…"

"—but I'd much rather be stuck with you than Ever—"

"Point taken."

"And really, it's not a big deal," finished Yami. He licked his fingers clean. "I've been there a few times, back when Lyra was still trying to figure out if she wanted me on the team permanently. It's actually pretty nice."

"Yeah, but WHAT is it?" asked Alfie, who was growing more and more desperate to avoid infinite storage.

Yami considered that. "It's like this system," he said. "You know, PC. Personal computer. And you know how you can only hold six Pokéballs on your belt at a time? When a trainer runs out of room, they sort of just…plop you in there. Then they stick around for a little bit, and the trainer can come and get you whenever they want."

That was when Ever the Ninetales decided to walk in on their conversation, although it looked more like a dramatic appearance rather than a simple intervention. "That is," she began, "if they remember that you're in there." She hadn't been worried about the PC business whatsoever; in fact, she had seemed rather smug lately.

"Lyra wouldn't forget about us," said Alfie worriedly. She glanced at Yami. "Right?"

"Well, I don't know," sighed Ever, who was nonchalantly inspecting her nails. "There have been a few unlucky teammates in the past…Yami, do you recall the gentleman by the name of Tobias?"

"Yep, I know him."

"And that sweet little girl, Mardgie?"

"Vaguely."

"And?" asked Ever, making sure that her grin didn't fly over Alfie. "What happened to them?"

"Permanent retirement in the PC," responded Yami.

"All of them…once potential 'sixth' teammates," said Ever. She cooed and patted Alfie's head. "Awe, don't worry, Nature-girl. I'm sure that Lyra isn't thinking about leaving you there!"

Alfie was nearly driven to stress-induced tears. There were so many risks at stake. What if she was left in there and the overlord Arceus no longer had a seeker? Would he wonder where she was for years, until he was simply forced to replace her? She had no conflict with unfamiliar places — she'd been to hell and back, after all — but the thought of being there for an eternity with Ghost-boy and other lost souls didn't seem so inviting.

Feilong said: "Oh, you'll have an adventure!"

And Étoile cried: "Please return safely!"

The day came sooner than she pleased.

Actually, she hadn't even realized it was happening. Alfie had been sleeping in her Pokéball after a long day's work of grinding in the forests of Hoenn, and then had sort of awoken in a cot. She sleepily opened her eyes, only to find that she was surrounded by metal bunkers and blankets that looked like potato sacks. For a moment, she was delusional with exhaustion. "What in Johto…?"

Yami was snoring in the cot alongside hers. She leaned over and punched him in the shoulder. He awoke furiously, throwing his blanket across the room and nearly knocking noggins with her ("What in the Obsidian, Alfie?!") She remained undeterred. "Wake up!" she commanded, unthreatened by his hellfire eyes. "This is it. We're in the PC!"

"So?" he hissed. He threw himself back down onto the cot and curled into the fetal position. "I told you that I've been in one before. And there was lots of grass and trees and good places to SLEEP!"

"Open your eyes!" said Alfie, grabbing hold of his eyelids and forcing them apart. He wailed at her, smacking away her hands with what little sleep-driven force he had. "This isn't the same place you were in last time. I think we're in some kind of military bunker…look at all of the machinery around us." She searched for a window, and when she found one, she stumbled out of the cot to take a look outside. "Oh my Arceus…Yami, you have got to come see this."

"I don't want to see anything but the back of my eyelids," he grumbled, "which, by the way, have stretched to twice their usual length."

"I think we're in outer space."

"Yeah, and I'm best friends with the creator of the entire known universe."

Alfie squinted at him. "Not funny," she said.

"What's true for you ain't true for me."

"Really, Yami, come see." Her fear was quickly turning into fascination.

The two were definitely floating in outer space. She saw distant lights, coming from stars. Every few moments, a sand-colored asteroid would float past the window, trailed by a fine string of colorful dust. When she craned her head, she could see the wings of what appeared to a spaceship — the vessel on which they had awoken. When she blinked, she only saw her astonished reflection in the glass, and her golden eyes looking back at her like sunlight.

Alfie took a step back. Keeping her eyes on the window, she sat down on Yami.

"ALFIE!" he hollered. Sounding suffocated, he clawed his way out from underneath his blankets and started to aim for her neck. Laughing, she easily avoided him and started smacking the side of his head in an attempt to rile him up even further. Yami snarled and grabbed her wrists. She only kept giggling, even after he had rolled over and pinned her to the cot. Then he looked into her eyes and quietly said, "I am going to kill you."

There came a muffled cough.

Alfie's face exponentially grew red as she looked up and saw a girl standing at the door. She was petite, but had a circular face with big cheeks and huge, beautiful eyes. She wore all salmon-colored clothing, and underneath her curly pink hair there was two brown horns protruding from the sides of her head. Her skin was so flushed in places that it took on a slightly darker shade, and her nose was so abundant with freckles that it seemed like there could not have been skin underneath. Despite her innocent persona, her black eyes were so severe that Alfie and Yami immediately halted in their tracks and disconnected all forms of physical contact.

"Welcome, strangers," said the girl in a high-pitched, nasal tone. She stiffly extended her hand, but only one, so Alfie and Yami mentally battled who was going to shake it last. "Pilot Mardgie Cleffa at your service."

"Wait, Mardgie?" asked Yami, eyes wide. "You're so — different — what…what happened?"

"I have matured," said Mardgie airily. She lifted her chin, but whether it was because she was proud or because she needed to look up to meet Yami in the eye, Alfie did not know. "Since coming to this ship and meeting first-in-command Pilot Tobias Elgyem, I have forgotten my discourses and taken on a whole new burden: running this ship and defeating the Great Divide." Her expression withered. "Do I know you?"

"I…" began Yami, his voice coming out choked between a laugh and disbelief. "I mean, you did. We were on Lyra's team together for a few weeks…or, well, days. You don't remember the name Yami—"

"Can't say I do."

"—well, not like you were expected to," he finished blandly. "Although…everyone else does. Don't know what went wrong there. This is Alfie. Feel free to ask me again in a few minutes though…she's more forgettable than I am—"

"Hey!"

"Is she your girlfriend?" asked Mardgie, who clearly had no filter.

Alfie raised her finger. "Yes—"

"I prefer to call her a significant other," interrupted Yami. "She's not causing any problems on the ship, is she?"

"Sometimes, we have Pokémon who come in together, but never any couples," said Mardgie. "It causes problems, because if I happen to catch a single woman looking at Pilot Tobias Elgyem the wrong way, I toss them out of the ship and they are left to wander…float, really, through Section Seventeen." Her eyes glazed over. "The Pilot is a handsome man, but needs no distraction from his real goal." Then she scornfully returned her stare to Alfie and Yami. "It is a good thing you two are a couple for that very reason."

Yami blanched.

"Oh," said Alfie, who had taken a moment to consider the weight of 'floating through Section Seventeen', whatever that happened to be. "Oh — OH! No, no, no, you don't need to worry about…about that."

"Wait, what's the Great Divide?" asked Yami. "And Section Seventeen?"

Mardgie locked her jaw. "Come with me."

"Section Seventeen is only one out of twenty-four," said Mardgie as she briskly walked through spinning corridors. At the press of a glowing, green button on the wall, a metal door slid open and revealed a steep staircase. She climbed two steps and offered the other two her hand, but didn't hold it out long enough for anyone to actually grab it. Taking two stairs at a time, she continued, "The all-Trainer Lyra is the one who decides where a man or woman goes when it's their time to…move on to better things."

Alfie and Yami exchanged knowing looks, sort of like, 'These Pokémon are a little weird.'

"The all-Trainer is revered as some sort of deity here," said Mardgie. "The longer I stay, the more power I realize she has."

And then Alfie and Yami nodded at one another, as if, 'Nope, they're just literally insane.'

Mardgie stopped at the top of the staircase and let out a billowing sigh. "Some come onto our spaceship, scared and alone. They fear that they will be forgotten. Every now and then, one mysteriously disappears, and we can only hope that the all-Trainer has come and retrieved them. For those who are left, we give them a job to do."

She pointed a finger.

"That," she said, "is the Great Divide."

Alfie reached the top of the stairs and was immediately floored by what she saw. They were standing at the door to some kind of cockpit. A window, long and sturdy like a seawall, gave her a widescreen view into the world outside of the ship. Small vehicles that resembled turtle-shells, but with aviator wings, sped past the window and fired all sorts of elements — rocks, water, fire, ice — at an invisible wall. Whenever an attack made contact, the Divide shuddered and rippled with energy, but was otherwise unharmed.

The cockpit was bustling with activity. She was nearly knocked to the ground by Pokémon attempting to make their way into the staircase, without as much of an apologetic glance towards her. Consoles bleeped, machines blinked, and buttons blazed green. At the center of it all was a skinny man with his long arms folded behind his back. He wore a stormy blue, military-like outfit, and when he angled his head towards the left, Alfie saw his incredibly sharp features and alienistic eyes, which were an unnatural shade of acid green and had no whites.

"And that is Tobias Elgyem," said Mardgie, who had gone rigid. "And he is in charge of destroying the Great Divide."

"What's past it?" asked Alfie.

"And why are you trying so hard to knock it down?" added Yami, who didn't seem impressed with all of the 'Great Divide' shenanigans. He crossed his arms. "It's obviously impenetrable, so—"

"There is no such thing as a wall that cannot be destroyed," replied Mardgie curtly. "As for what's past its boundaries…we have no clue. Sometimes, Tobias has visions of other lands beyond the wall — other Pokémon, that the all-Trainer Lyra placed in there. Tobias was the first Pokémon to enter this Section, and I the second. We were equipped with this machinery from the beginning. Surely that is a sign."

Yami looked amused. "Or-rrrr-rrr, maybe there's no point…?"

Mardgie's glare could have cut diamonds. "Unacceptable. We are here for a reason." She inhaled and steadied her voice. "And now that you're here, you're going to help us. We don't take slackers."

Alfie knew the truth: Their entire existence was happening inside of a computer, which was ultimately at Lyra's disposal. She didn't have the heart to tell Mardgie that. Everyone was working so furiously, all for a noble cause presented to them by Tobias. She supposed that it was better than losing all track of time and existence, like Epsilon had mentioned.

"Do I get to blow things up?" asked Yami.

Mardgie's upper lip twitched. "Of course."

Yami turned towards Alfie. "Alfie, can I go blow things up with Mardgie?"

"Whoa, whoa — slow down," she said. She pulled him aside. "You can't get too excited over this…Lyra will be coming back for us. We should stay put and keep ourselves safe. Who knows what could happen to you out there?"

"Nothing," he snorted. "I've gone digital."

"Remember the last time you went through with someone's plan?" said Alfie sourly. She hadn't yet forgotten the incident at the Daycare two months ago.

"I do," said Yami. "You looked so beautiful pulverizing those Houndoom. Almost as beautiful as you'll look operating a spaceship and gunning down that stupid wall." At her disapproving face, he added, "I'm going to do it anyway. It's better than waiting around for something to happen."

Alfie nervously itched her shoulder. "Fine," she said. "I'm going to go explore the ship."

Alfie ambled through the corridors, taking great care to not disturb the general routine. She grazed the walls and inched around corners when clusters of Pokémon would rush past her. Ever since she'd been in the fight of her life with Obsidian, months and months ago, she had harbored a certain aversion to battles. Facing off other Pokémon was a different story — there were rules, clear victories and losses. The Great Divide, on the other hand, was an impenetrable force — unthinking and unlawful. Those Pokémon, like Mardgie and Tobias, were pitting everything they had against something they couldn't exactly see.

She sniffed, wishing that she could be with Epsilon, Étoile, and Feilong again. Ever wasn't a top priority on her list, but Alfie would have been glad to see the Ninetales then. She would've rather seen her than had to deal with Mardgie and Tobias, who apparently had Stockholm Syndrome with that stupid wall. There is nothing great about the Great Divide, she grumbled in her thoughts. Ugh, where's the nearest gym? I need to have a go with a punching bag…or better yet, my stupid boyfriend's face— "Oh!"

Alfie collided into someone's chest and stumbled backwards. "I'm so sorry!" she exclaimed, but she hardly finished her apology when she was interrupted with an uncomfortable silence that spoke louder than she.

She nervously glanced up into Tobias Elgyem's eyes, which were glazed over with that toxic green color but still seemed so focused on her. As she had seen him earlier, his arms were tucked and folded on top of one another behind his back. His shoulders were squared and his jawline was stiff. And his mouth hardly budged when he said, "Our new…recruit."

Alfie forced a laugh, like, "Ha…ha…" and then added, "That'd be me."

Tobias's voice was clipped and staccato. "You will…help us. You have heard of the Great Divide?"

"I have," said Alfie.

"It must be destroyed."

Alfie shifted her weight around, fidgeting under his unforgiving gaze. "I don't know if that's possible."

"Anything," said Tobias, very slowly, "…anything is possible." He leaned forward, making a ninety-degree angle with his torso and his legs. His hands snaked out from behind his back and inserted themselves into his front pockets. "Especially for someone like you."

A bead of sweat rolled down Alfie's temple. "What do you want to do once you destroy it, anyway?"

Tobias had not moved an inch. "Sub—ju—gate."

He straightened and did a leisurely about-face. Then he folded his arms behind his back again and then strolled away, the noise of his military heels echoing along the empty corridors. Alfie was left there, shaking. The intensity of his stare had paralyzed her. And his voice — she could not have described his voice if she had tried. Infinite, timeless, like she was floating through the darkest corners of space, but laced with a robotic undertone.

Mardgie and Yami came walking up behind her.

"What were you doing talking to Tobias?" asked Yami, mid-chew whilst eating what looked to be an ice cream sandwich.

The Pilot Cleffa cleared her throat. "Yes," she said, her eyes looking uncharacteristically unfocused, "what were you doing speaking to him?"

"Oh, he was just — uh — telling me the reasons that he wanted to take down the Great Divide," said Alfie, and then Mardgie was seeing stars again. Alfie pursed her lips and looked in the direction that Tobias had left, still feeling his presence hovering over her. Subjugate, she thought anxiously. Subjugate who? And what measures will he take to accomplish that…? He had seemed so serious. "Something about subj—"

"Liberating all trapped Pokémon and giving them a better life?" interrupted Mardgie. Her cheeks were practically glowing. "Tobias Elgyem is a noble man with noble goals. Did he disclose to you the methods he will be using in order to make this a happier, more accessible place for everyone to live?"

Alfie frowned. Something wasn't right. "No, but I—"

Mardgie interrupted again, "Well, I suppose that if you are to join our crew, then you should know just like everyone else." The corner of her lips were turned upwards, but in such a subtle fashion that she probably wasn't aware that she was smiling. "The first-in-command has a special secret. A power, I suppose you could call it. The power to manipulate technology with his mind. Tobias Elgyem is infinitely wise and has many weapons at his disposal, including his own intellect."

"Is that why his head is so big?" said Yami.

Mardgie inhaled so sharply that she nearly choked. "As I was say-ing," she said, the last syllable nothing but a squeak. "The only reason he has not destroyed the Great Divide yet is because he is training us for what might happen on the other side. He says there could possibly be hostile Pokémon in parallel Sections. We weaken the wall so that he doesn't wear himself out before the actual journey begins." Very pointedly, she added: "Liberate."

No, thought Alfie. Something is DEFINITELY not right here.

She had a great intuition for danger. Whenever there was a thing or two off, she could feel the change in atmosphere, the discomfort in the pit of her stomach. And when Mardgie said 'liberate', she could only hear Tobias's strained whisper: "Subjugate." The temperature had dropped ten degrees. Her heart was pounding against her ribcage.

"I must return to Tobias's side to work out some logistics," finished Mardgie. She gave a long, sideways glance to Yami, not forgetting his blasphemic comment. "Report back to your bunk. Stay out of trouble. I will be requesting you shortly."

Alfie paced back and forth. Her mind was racing so quickly that she couldn't even look out the window at the beautiful cosmos outside. She vaguely heard the distant rumble of elements beating against the border between Section Seventeen and Sixteen, but each thump against the wall only made her chest hurt.

Yami was laying down on one of the cots with his hands folded behind his head. His eyes were halfway closed and one of his legs was crossed over the other. "You're like a caged Persian," he commented, smirking. "Keep on power-walking like that and you might burn a few calories."

Alfie said nothing.

And this, Yami noticed.

"What's the deal?" he asked, sitting up. He grew visibly irritated when she, again, gave no acknowledgement. "You don't pace like that when you're bored or when you're mad. You do that whenever something is on your mind that you want to tell me, but you don't know how so it gets all pent up inside of you. So I always ask, like the good boyfriend I am, 'Alfie, will you tell me what's going on?' And then you usually say, 'Not now, Yami, I'm busy.' So I either give you a kiss or a Poffin, and then you give that obnoxious sigh and go, 'Okay, okay, I'll tell you.' But I don't have any Poffins and I'm not really in the mood to kiss you, so you might as well go ahead and tell me what's wrong now."

Yet, Alfie continued to pace.

"Please don't make me kiss you."

No answer.

"Alfie."

Silence.

Yami stormed out of his cot and grabbed her by the shoulders. Alfie startled and gave him a surprised look, as if she had woken from a dream. "What?" she asked, naively enough. "Oh, was I doing that thing again?"

"Yeah, that thing."

Alfie sighed, rubbing her arms as if a chill had passed through the bunker. "This whole operation seems off to me," she admitted. Yami opened his mouth to protest, but she silenced him with a firm, "Wait, hear me out. You know how Mardgie kept going on about liberation this and liberation that, and free Pokémon everywhere, and how wonderful Tobias is? I get the feeling that Tobias isn't all that he's cracked up to be. He actually seems a little suspicious…"

"Yeah, I don't like the color of his eyes," said Yami comically, which was funny considering that his own eyes were a blood-red that Alfie would have been afraid to face in the dark. He gave an "Ow!" of protest when Alfie furiously punched his shoulder.

"He told me that he was going to take the wall," she said, "not to liberate — but to subjugate. You don't think that, whatever is beyond that wall, he plans to take over? I mean…think about it. And I mean really think about it, even if you have to put that brain to use for once. He's this — apparently — all powerful Psychic Pokémon who — according to Mardgie — has the ability to take down the border. And he's training everyone to prepare for what's on the other side? What else could there be except for innocent Pokémon that Lyra put into the box over the years? It's not adding up."

Yami cracked a smile. "It sounds like that he wants to take control of all the Pokémon in the PC and break out or something," he said nonchalantly. "Maybe he wants to get revenge against Lyra for being put in this dumb box."

Even though he was joking, Alfie could see the slight possibility that, maybe, he was right. She couldn't possibly hate Lyra for being put in here — after all, it was only temporary (or so she kept reminding herself). But she tried to imagine being taken from the wild and thrown into here. Epsilon had said that Pokémon lost track of all purpose and existence. Imagining herself being locked in the PC for years, thinking that her electronic existence was the same as the real thing, muddled her mind.

But if he's as strong as Mardgie makes him out to be, she thought, then why doesn't he just break out by himself? Then the word 'subjugate' came to mind again. He doesn't just want to leave. Tobias wants the thrill of seeing people bow before him. Huh, doesn't this sound familiar…

"Talk to Mardgie about it?" asked Yami, who still hadn't bought the story. He was laying down in his cot. "You women are always raving on and on about communication. She's second-in-command. She should be able to do something about it if something really is wrong."

Alfie eyeballed him. "Using communication to fix your relationship in a mature and healthy manner is definitely not the same as telling someone that their dream-boy is a power hungry alien with world domination issues." She stared intently at the ground. "But you're right…I'll have to find some way to tell her without making her defensive…I guess I could—"

Yami sighed. "Come here," he said. Eyes shut, he patted the space next to him.

"What for? My legs are restless."

"Lay down with me."

Alfie crawled into the cot next to Yami, and felt an immediate warmth envelop her body, as if all of her worries were melting away. She rested her head against his shoulder. Then she felt somewhat irritated, because she could see the smug smile on his face. "Why are you looking so pleased with yourself?"

"I pride myself in the fact that all it takes to calm down the savior of the known universe is to give her a hug and tell her she's looking pretty today," he said, sounding like he was about to drift into sleep. He petted her hair and yawned, "Mardgie and Tobias can wait until tomorrow."

Alfie's insides were still churning. There was no possibility that she could wait an entire night before confronting this problem head-on. Yet, the longer she remained next to Yami, the better and more peaceful she felt. Soon, his breathing had reduced to shallow inhales and heavy exhales, but she knew that he was still awake — Ghosts didn't sleep much. Yami had claimed it was because he was afraid of what he might see in the dark.

She clutched at the fabric of his shirt, deep in contemplation. He had always provided her with stability, acted as the rope that kept her grounded when she thought she might lose herself. After all this time, she had no idea how could she return the favor and help him for once.

Several hours had passed before Alfie heard the blaring alarm, which yanked her from sleep. Yami's eyes were already wide open, scanning the black room that kept flashing red. "What's going on?" she asked, trying to yell over the siren. She stumbled out of the cot and reached out for his hand, but missed. Only when the lights flashed could she see where he was, and every moment he was further across the room.

Yami was leaning out of the door. When he came back in, he reported, "Everyone's running around like madmen." As usual, he looked more annoyed than worried, like, I could have been sleeping. Instead, I have to deal with a potential catastrophe.

"You don't think that…" Alfie trailed off, thinking of Tobias.

"I don't know," said Yami, "but when you have a hunch, you're usually right."

Alfie bit her lip. This wasn't her realm. She couldn't possibly know if something was wrong after having been here for less than a day. For all she knew, the alarm could have been standard morning protocol every day. Tobias could have meant something else — he could actually be fighting for liberation of all boxed Pokémon. And yet, she couldn't shake off the nagging voice at the back of her head, telling her that this was not normal and that she needed her get her seeker butt out there as fast as she could.

"I'm always looking to stir up a little bit of chaos," continued Yami, grinning. "So…what does your gut tell you?"

Alfie felt some force pulling at her. "Find Tobias and Mardgie. Now."

The two Pokémon raced through the corridors, using the best of yesterday's memory to navigate themselves back to the head of the spaceship. With their bodies glowering red, they weaved through hallways and turned corners. "If Tobias is up to what I think he is," Alfie had said between exhausted breaths, "then he'll be in the cockpit, looking dead straight at the stupid wall."

Yami was running alongside her, but every few steps he'd take a skip into the air and float for a while. "Why couldn't Lyra have put us in Box Four?" he was grumbling. "Their background is set to 'Beach', so all they do is lounge around…"

"Stop right there!" commanded a voice. A male Nidoran stood in there tracks, violently shaking next to a Gastly, who looked like Yami's female equivalent. They were obviously both young and very untrained. The Nidoran widened his stance, attempting to come off as more threatening. "We can't let you pass…!"

Yami blew the hair out of his eyes. "Oh, come on, man, I thought we were friends!"

"That was long before the all-Trainer saw it fit to keep me here."

The female Gastly nodded quickly. "We know that you're going to try and stop Tobias! He said that you would, and that we needed to keep an eye on you."

Yami gave Alfie a quirky look. "Lyra caught her right before me. Too bad she wanted a male and not a female," he said.

"The all-Trainer doesn't respect anyone!" shrieked the Gastly, who seemed very intimidated by the much taller, more powerful Gengar standing in front of her. She gave off a dim, purple glow, but compared to her, Yami was like the personification of darkness itself. He loomed over her, a demon standing before an imp. "A—and Tobias only — only wants liberation! He plans to set us all free so that we can go back to the wild! The Pokémon who have been here longer don't care, don't remember what it's like to be free! But we do. And we want out!"

Alfie clenched her fists. "No, that's not what he wants," she said. Before, she had doubts about the Elgyem's intentions. Now, after finding out that he was purposely keeping her out, she knew which path to follow. Her intuition was screaming its approval. "Yes, he's going to let the Pokémon out of the PC. But only after taking over the other sections. Who knows whether he'll let you free or not?"

Both the Nidoran and the Gastly were trembling down to their feet. "W—we'll battle you before letting you through," stammered one of them. The room had momentarily gone black, and their voices were so squeaky that it was impossible to tell who was speaking.

"Oh?" asked Yami, almost tauntingly.

In a split second, he was a shadow. His form had gone spectral, a whirling, frozen mass of apparitional energy. When he reappeared, standing right in front of the Nidoran and the Gastly, they screamed like banshies. Yami stood above them like a pillar of evil power, his sunken eyes resembling two fiery pits. Behind him, the ominous red light flashed on and off, and the crackling sparks of a broken wire only made the scene more frightening. Staring at them, he gave them one of his pearly white sneers and, with a voice as black and deep as an abyss, echoed, "Battle?"

The two of them screamed again and headed for the hills, fumbling and tripping over one another as they sprinted down the corridor. Instantly, the immensely malevolent shadow that had overtaken him disappeared. He stood there, laughing. "It gets the babies every time!" he cracked up, slapping his knee. He turned around, smiling at Alfie, who was pale as a sheet. "Oh, lighten up, Alfie! It was funny…come on, tell me that wasn't funny!"

"Y—you…" she sputtered.

"Perks of being a Gengar, number one" said Yami, bloating with pride. "Evolving ain't as simple as everyone imagines it to be. Think that one will work on Tobias? I could do it all day."

Alfie groaned. "Come on, Ghost-boy," she said. She grabbed his hand, which was still iced over, and pulled him along. For some reason, she yearned to feel his warmth again, but wherever there was skin she felt as if she was touching marble. "We're almost to the cockpit…and we've got to get there before Tobias can break down the wall."

The door to the cockpit was unguarded, but there was a strange, repelling aura about it that made Alfie want to run all the way back to the bunker and hide. Briefly, she revisited the memory of standing at the grand doors to the Hall of Origin — her hand hovering over the handle, her heart one step ahead and her courage one step behind, with the feeling of ultimate villainy radiating from within. Somehow, even though she had found the bravery to confront Obsidian, the most dangerous entity in all of Pokémon existence, she still felt anxiety bubbling inside of her.

Why is this any different, or better yet, any more perilous? she thought, pushing open the door. Tobias can't kill me. There's nothing he can do to hurt me. He has nothing against me…

"You two!" exclaimed Mardgie, who was sitting down at one of the control panels. She spun her chair around and got half-way out of her seat. Her expression of alarm immediately changed to mistrust. "Why are you here? I thought we sent someone to tell you both which ranks to take up…this had better be urgent!"

"I need to speak to First-in-Command Tobias." Alfie spoke coolly, but her insides were aflame.

The Pilot stood at the wheel, his arms folded as usual with his back to him. At her demand, he tilted his body hardly an inch to his left, so that he was regarding her over his shoulder. His bearing did not change. In fact, he seemed almost amused that she had shown up, as if he had been expecting her.

"Tobias Elgyem is focusing right now," said Mardgie angrily. Now she was out of her chair, storming towards them. "Should he lose his concentration, this whole operation may all be for nothing and he will have only wasted precious energy!"

"No," said Tobias, a single word that stopped Mardgie in her tracks. His hand was hanging in the air, and then it gave a dismissive wave. "Let. Her. Speak." In response, Mardgie looked as if she was about to retort, but she thought better of it and pursed her lips. She remained where she was, her forearms quivering with restraint at her sides. Tobias lowered his hand. "Continue."

"I know what you're up to," said Alfie, with the same tone of voice she had used to address more than a few scoundrels. "You're the type of Pokémon who wouldn't tell me anything on accident. You don't mean to liberate all Pokémon, you—"

"Sub—ju—gate," replied Tobias, haltingly turning away from her. "The original intent…all along."

Mardgie's eyes widened a fraction of an inch. "Sir…?"

"Subjugate," said Tobias simply. "Overcome. Suppress. Enslave."

So Alfie had been correct. The entire room had quieted. Pokémon all along the sides of the cockpit had stopped what they were doing to stare blankly at their Pilot, unaware that they had been dragged along for his joyride. Alfie swallowed the lump in her throat. "You're going to use your psychic powers to destroy the Great Divide, and then conquer all of the Pokémon from Box Sixteen and below. When you're done, you'll go the other way and work on boxes eighteen to twenty-four. That one little word…that was your mistake!"

"Transparent," said Tobias, "as quartz."

Mardgie and the rest of the Pokémon blanched, but they didn't move.

"What power do you have to disable the PC?" challenged Alfie, wondering how a Psychic Pokémon could possibly damage the computer that was meant to keep them locked in. Tobias was just an Elgyem! There were dozens of thousands of them across the region, and there had never been any story of even one breaking out of the system. "What's the difference between you and every other Psychic type out there?"

Tobias looked fixedly at her. "Because, I have motives. A brain much larger than your own. An intellect much more astute. A passion much hotter. A psyche much more celestial. All greater than the average. And while the average submits to the humans once they are captured, I am not the same. Something as feeble as man-made electronics can be broken with a single thought. So can the world."

"S—sir…" said Mardgie, her shoulders shaking with barely contained emotions. "You said…I thought…"

"See how simple a thought can be?" said Tobias, mocking the girl who had been his biggest fan. "'I thought you were better,' or 'I thought different of you.' Nobody thinks of the right things. Nobody concentrates on the more important things." He faced Alfie completely, his haughty eyes staring right down his nose to bore through her own. "I. Do."

"You're horrible," said Alfie. "I've dealt with much worse than you. I don't take your threats seriously. But the one thing that I cannot forgive is your coldheartedness towards these Pokémon, who have followed you and your grand ideas from the start. Their intellect may not be up to par with yours, but at least they have a heart. And that's way bigger and way more important than your stupid brain."

"Hmph," said Tobias, one side of his mouth smiling. "You don't take me…seriously?"

Alfie dug her fingers into her palms. "World domination?" she asked. "Yeah, right. You'll never make it out of this box."

Tobias snapped his fingers, and instantly her body was overwhelmed with a nauseating, constricting feeling. Her limbs locked into place and she saw stars. "P—please," she said through gritted teeth. Yami was visibly struggling against his own bonds. He may have been able to use that attack himself, but psychic powers hurt him more than Alfie. His eyes were quickly draining of stamina. Other Pokémon attempted to jump out of their seats to save them, and they too were frozen in place with a single snap. "As if…I've practiced pulling myself out of this one…"

Alfie strained her body against the Psychic, and broke free of its influence, much to Tobias's shock. In moments, she had pushed off of the ground and onto him. As they fell towards the ground, she grabbed his arms and yelled with the ferocity of a Pokémon Champion, "Mega Drain!"

Tobias landed hard on his back, losing his breath. He coughed violently as he lay there with his arms pinned to the floor, his energy being sucked out of him as if through a straw. Alfie felt her own powers returning with greater vigor, and in a few moments the color had returned to her face. "Don't you ever try me like that," she said hotly. Her entire figure was burning with rejuvenation, her form eyes brimming with elemental power.

Tobias, through his shallow hacking, managed to get out, "And don't you underestimate me…"

He swung his leg out, sending her flying to the ground. In retaliation, Alfie gave the battle everything she had. She made the cockpit split in half with the force of an Earthquake, send her razor sharp leaves at him, and even grew vines to trap him in place. Yet, his strength was a force to be reckoned with. For every hit she landed, he reciprocated with telekinetic powers. At one point, Yami joined the battle; he and Alfie were more than adept at dual battling. All three of them dodged, threw punches, jumped, tucked, rolled, and sparred. Fighting with him was like trying to fight Epsilon — Tobias was a master at predicting his opponent's next move, and Alfie had the lingering feeling that he was actually reading her mind.

"You aren't thinking of the right things!" said Tobias, who was increasingly showing more and more uncontrollable fervor. Once or twice he gave a terrifying grin, one that said he would not hesitate to kill them if it meant achieving his goals. Throughout the battle, Alfie retained hope because he could not harm her like that — they were nothing but electrical signals inside of a computer, after all. "I can see every thought inside of your head now!"

Alfie blocked one of his punches. She slid backwards, her arms feeling bruised.

"And you still doubt that I contain an incredible gift?!" Tobias shouted. No matter how many hits he endured, he never seemed to slow down.

Yami feinted a move, and surged upwards to deliver a knockout blow to Tobias. In that span of time — between one second and the next — Alfie saw Tobias's eyes harden. She saw that coldhearted vehemence in those eyes crystallize into something much more impenetrable. When his hand came up like a sword, ready to slice downward, she realized that this would not be an ordinary attack. Her intuition boiled like wildfire inside of her.

Screaming his name, Alfie dove in front of Yami as Tobias's hand delivered its blow. Just before making contact with her skin, she felt an electrical pulse throughout Section Seventeen. And she watched in absolute horror as Tobias swung at her arm, and where he touched he made a clean cut with her entire limb. Everything from the elbow of her left arm and below turned neon blue for a moment before shattering like glass. Time slowed as she watched pieces of her computerized body fly into the air, only to disintegrate before touching the ceiling.

Alfie skidded on the ground. Her vision went blurry. Tears streamed down her face from utter trauma. She could feel Yami shaking her shoulders, begging her to be fine, and Tobias laughing maniacally in the background. "My…my arm," she croaked. There was little pain, only a dull thrumming where the limb should have been. Her body was flickering, like there was a bad connection. Each ache came with the noise of static.

Tobias had been serious when he said that he could destroy data. Had she been a second too late, Yami's entire existence could have been wiped out. Just like that, she thought, aghast. She shakily turned herself towards Tobias, who was observing her. His composed manner had returned, but it was obvious that he was taking great pleasure in watching her.

"Elementary," he said quietly, "to wipe out the Great Divide. And you — as if you never lived."

Alfie felt herself being lifted into the air, heard Yami's screams of rage, and could vaguely see Tobias's sick smile from the corner of her eye. She couldn't wrap her mind around the thought that, somehow, Tobias could wipe her data from the face of the planet. The stakes had leapt to incredible heights. Her pupils dilated and her remaining hand hung limply at her side. Visions of what had been and what could be came in and out of her sightline.

Tobias's whisper of a voice entered her thoughts: "Tell me," it spoke, "how you believe this came to be?"

"I — don't — understand," she gasped, desperately seeking air.

"No," said Tobias, seeming mildly disappointed. "No. Of course you don't." He pulled her face closer to his own, and then breathily said into her ear, "Because you operate within the boundaries of every world you're in. But, for me, there are no limitations. I can cheat the system. And that is what makes you average, and what makes me godlike."

Godlike, Alfie thought. Godlike… Then suddenly, she sneered. "Godlike?!" she demanded of him. He recoiled, his hands pressing tighter against her face. She wrapped her fingers around his cold, dead wrists and tried with all of her might to loosen his grip with a single arm. "You don't know a thing about being GODLIKE, Tobias! Because if you had any inkling of what it means to be one of them, you would have left this box a long time ago!"

Tobias glared at her with sheer malice. "What," he growled, pulling her closer, "are you insinuating?"

"I'm insinuating," she responded with equivalent acrimony, "that you're bluffing. That you have absolutely no idea how to get out of this box. And no matter how many times you destroy something as simple as a wall of code between two boxes, you will never figure out how to return to the real world."

She could not deny that the stunned look on his face was priceless.

"Being only data inside of a computer is like lucid dreaming," she said. "It's only restrictive when you're unaware. And when you find out what's really happening…anything become possible. What nobody else knows — nobody but you, of course — is that we are only numbers. And I am willing to bet everything I've ever owned on this one guess: That our real selves are stored inside of our Pokéballs right now. This is only a simulation. You are, in fact, locked inside of one as well."

Tobias froze. "WHAT?" he hissed.

"I don't know the science of the Pokeball," said Alfie. "What I do know is that I have a real body. I'm made of matter and particles, and I live, eat, breathe, and sleep. The Pokéball can store me, and the PC can store Pokéballs. But I know for a fact that you cannot wipe me out of existence simply by waving your hand and destroying a few lines of code." Despite his vice grip on her jawline, she managed a weak smile. "That's treading into godlike territory, and the overlord Arceus saves that for the real world."

"What makes you think that?" Tobias asked, his voice quiet, deadly, and just loud enough for her to hear. But she knew that she had caught him. His entire arm was trembling.

"Have you ever been an interregional battling event?" Alfie locked her grip around his wrist, but he did nothing to stop her. He could only stare at her with rapt horror. "I have. Only once, but it reminded me of you. During these battles, trainers don't meet face-to-face. They choose three Pokémon from their team, insert them into a machine—" She forced his hand off of her. "—and then we battle through the network."

Tobias took two steps backward, his posture slack.

"Oh man," said Alfie, recalling a fond memory, "that battle was intense. Me, Yami, and Epsilon. Now, Yami and I together are bad, but Epsilon. If you want to be technical, he has the highest level out of all of us. We three were facing off against some powerful Pokémon — don't even get me started on how fast these suckers were. Point is: We wrecked that arena. Obliterated it. And in the end, we didn't even feel bad, because as soon as we were declared the victors, everything returned to normal. We were pulled from the computer to find that our wounds were healed, and that it had all been simulated."

"Y—you…" snarled Tobias, looking like he was about to blow a fuse.

"Like I said," began Alfie, "you can destroy that wall as many times as you want, but nothing will happen. I used Earthquake earlier, right at the start of our battle. Broke and smashed in almost all of the machinery. But see, Tobias—" And the machinery was, indeed, completely intact. "—everything is fixed." She walked towards him, making sure that he did not oversee the fury in her eyes. "You might think that you're so smart because you, I quote, can 'cheat the system.' But you are nothing extraordinary. You are a Pokémon trapped within the walls of the PC."

She paused, glaring at him.

"And that," she finished, "makes you average."

"I am GODLIKE!" Tobias roared, lunging for her.

Alfie merely sidestepped him. Having destroyed most of his confidence, she realized that he had nothing left. Tobias had flourished on top of the loyalty and drive of those below him. Without it, he had forgotten what to say and how to act. Everyone knew his true motivation, and nobody was about to put up with it. In a way, she almost felt sorry for him. And then she remembered something else: her arm.

"You may be a powerful Psychic Pokémon," she said quietly, watching as he clutched at the ground in utter defeat. He was breathing so loudly, almost snorting like a Taurus, with rage. "You can do powerful things with your mind, like make computers break and objects move. In the real world, you might have been a fearsome opponent…in the real world, I might have actually lost my arm. There haven't been many Pokémon who battle with the intention to kill, like you do. But like the rest of us, you can only operate within the boundaries of this world. You're evil, Tobias. And a parasite to Lyra's name. You don't deserve to live amongst those she loves."

Mardgie creeped up behind her, both appalled at her revelation and dismayed at what had become of her leader. She had obviously been crying, but her eyes had gone steely, as if she knew exactly what she had to do. "Alfie—" she began, still trying to comprehend that Tobias was an emotional puddle in front of her. "How — how did you…?

Alfie put her hand on Mardgie's shoulder, comforting the Cleffa. "You just have to think of the right things."

Alfie stretched her arms above her head, yawning. Naturally, she hadn't gotten a wink of sleep all night. At least she wasn't as cranky as Yami, who could not believe that someone had tried — key word being tried — to kill him, and required at least eight hours of sleep per night in order to function as a slightly less irritable member of society. She reclined against the bench she was sitting in, and waited for Lyra to finish her business in the Pokémart.

"And how is Mardgie doing?" asked Epsilon, who seemed rather unbothered by the fact that there had been an evil maniac living inside of box seventeen.

"Back to her old self," said Alfie. "Not that I know how she used to be, but that came straight from her mouth. She said that Tobias had brainwashed her. Now she's focusing on trying to make the PC — well, her section at least — better for everyone. Those Pokémon feel betrayed. She insists that it can be a fun time for everyone."

As it turns out, Lyra had only needed Alfie and Yami's spaces open for a night so that she could withdraw two others from a different box. The reasoning: They could use Flash and Cut, while she and Yami could not.

"Mardgie was a good girl," said Epsilon. "And Tobias? What happened to him?"

"I think that they locked him up," replied Alfie, laughing. "He thought that being in the PC was too confined. Now he's actually trapped. Solitary confinement, I believe, on the lowest level of the spaceship. Mardgie said that nobody else needed to be losing their arms, as impermanent as it might have been. She said that it makes for a stressful environment. Yami told her that they need to be more like Box Four and lighten up."

Epsilon grinned at the Gengar, who was sulking in an alleyway that was just within their sightline. "You are a smart kid, Alfie," he told her.

"I would have fallen for it," said Alfie. She touched her left arm, glad that it was still fully intact. Watching it shatter before her eyes had been an experience — one that she never wanted to live through again. "Then he insulted the overlord. He's my boss. I risked my life to save him. But you should have seen Yami's face after we got done with everything."

"I can hear him muttering," said Feilong, who approached them and sat down on Alfie's opposite side, "something about 'being a man' and 'being incapable of saving his woman.' Do you think that the ordeal has permanently emasculated him?"

"It would probably do him some good," agreed Epsilon.

"Kid is more arrogant than a Snivy…"

Alfie complained, "Come on, guys, don't be mean. He's manly in his own way!"

She slouched down in a grump when both the Lucario and the Dragonite put their arms over her shoulders.

"This is to get him back for that joke he made with the egg," whispered Feilong.

"As your father-figure, I was not amused!" exclaimed Epsilon, way more cheerily than he had to.

The two of them gave each other knowing grins before planting a kiss on either side of her face, loudly exclaiming: "Alfie, do tell us again about how you saved Yami's life?"

Alfie rubbed the bridge of her nose.

A migraine was coming.

And Yami was a'hollering.