Ep 3: Build

I drop off the plushy at Zappy’s house. Zappy thanks me by giving me a bear hug.

“I love it!” Zappy says while squeezing it with all her might. “Tell Shadow that her plushy is adorable!”

I give a weak smile, trying to recover from her hug. Her hugs can sometimes take the life out of you. I hover away, looking back to see her with the plushy, now throwing it in the air and catching it with a big grin on her face. I can’t help but keep smiling.

On my way to the beach, I see another green-eyed Pokémon looking at me. It doesn’t come after me though. I keep my distance from it and keep on going.

Shadow is lying down sleeping in the sand. I make some noise in the sand next to her to wake her up. She wakes up and looks at me.

“You’re here,” Shadow says, her voice breaking up.

“Should I let you sleep?” I ask.

“I’m fine,” she replies. “Just taking a nap while you were gone.”

“Zappy told me to tell you that your plushy is adorable.”

Shadow blushes and smiles at me. I smile thinking about Zappy having fun with her plushy. “So what did you want me here for?” I ask.

“We need to put these pieces together.” Shadow lay all the pieces of technology on the ground and we start to put them together.

“Do you not have backup lasers?” I ask.

“I wish,” she says. “I only built one set of lasers before stopping.”

I was surprised when she said she built it. I didn’t know she could build technology like this. “Can you build another set?”

“Maybe. I haven’t built anything in years so I don’t know.”

We finish fixing the contraption. Sadly, I couldn’t really help because I didn’t know what to do so Shadow did most of the work. I feel bad.

“That’s the last piece,” she says. “Maybe I should try and make another set of lasers. That’s the only thing we need left before it actually works. We’ll need to go back to my hideout for that.”

While we were heading back, I was wondering what would happen if two sets of mind control lasers interacted with each other. What I came up with wasn’t pretty. “What would happen if both sets of lasers are on at the same time?” I ask.

“I have no idea,” she admits. “When the lasers initially meet, it sets off a pulse that will cover an entire area, and it will continue to set off pulses until it deactivates. I haven’t thought about two sets of lasers setting off pulses at the same time before. I predict either one of two things might happen: either both sets of lasers fizzle out…” She pauses and frowns. “Or they explode.”

I gulp. She says they could explode but she didn’t say how big the explosion might be. Thoughts of the entire city blowing up fill my mind. I shake my head.

Shadow reads my face. “I wish I didn’t have to say that, but it’s a possibility. Both outcomes will destroy the machines but one result is more dangerous.”

I nod. I understand that they could potentially explode, but I just hope that doesn’t happen. If it’s a big explosion, all Pokémon in the area could be wiped out, including us.