Prologue

The cold winds tore, howling furiously, around the tallest peak of Inviernus, whiting out navigation systems for klicks around, clouding the already near-opaque stratosphere with snow, and plunging the mountain into sub-zero temperatures with little concern for the two beings huddled on its heights.

"It's OK," the Beedrill reassured the Weedle that clung, whimpering, to her side. "I sent out the distress signal half an hour ago. Someone should have picked it up by now. They'll be here soon." She shivered as she stared at the frosted screen of her communicator, desperately praying that her words were true; the cold of winters on Inviernus had been known to finish off even Fire-types, and their weaknesses weren't helping matters. If they weren't rescued within the next few hours, they would not survive the night.

Footsteps crunched in the snow behind her. She whipped around, scythes held in front of her in a combat stance, red eyes scanning the blizzard. "Weedle. Activate your shield."

"Mummy?"

"Do it now!"

Crouching behind her, the Weedle gave one brief sob, then cried "Harden!" and was encased in a whitish, glistening coat. His mother readied her poison darts, tapping the spot on her thorax that stimulated toxin production to increase to deadly levels. "Show yourself!" She glanced through the impenetrable snowstorm. "Where are you?"

A silhouette moved closer to them, its shape obscured by the whirling flakes. The Beedrill remained oblivious, blades slashing randomly at the air in front of her.

Then, suddenly, came a loud beep from her communicator, and the sound of several sets of footsteps coming from her left. She whirled, and a smiling Pokémon resembling a fish entered her vision, followed by a sullen-looking Larvitar and a blue-helmeted one she could not identify. Their leader stepped forward, clicking on a small head-lamp to light up her position. "Are you the Beedrill that sent the distress beacon?"

"Y-yes," she stammered, almost choking with relief. Relaxing, she allowed her poison glands to shut down, and let her scythes fall down to hang at her sides. We are going to live.

"Excellent. We're just going to beam you up as soon as our ship comes in range, so get ready." He removed a small, shield-shaped object from his backpack, and directed the red crystal at its centre towards them. The Beedrill tensed her muscles once more. Teleportation was never a particularly pleasant experience, and in her current state it would probably be even worse. Preparing herself for matter disassembly, she stared up into the cloud layer, hoping to catch a glimpse of their rescuers' ship.

"Beta, bring her in close."

The harsh sound of engines filled the air, and several unbearably bright lights stabbed through the fog. A strong beating joined the cacophony as the down thrusters were brought online, and the leading edge of the ship dipped through the clouds. The Beedrill's mouth fell open.

Slowly descending closer and closer to the mountaintop was a ship the like of which she had never seen before. It was a gleaming silver, with a liquid, almost organic shape, coiled electric-blue plasma ducts writhing over its surface like veins. Enormous windows at the front were filled with the silhouettes of a dozen different species as they hurried about, making their final checks for landing. However, the size struck her most of all. A gargantuan, impossible metallic mountain, the ship that had answered their Mayday was the size of a city.

The energy beam hit, and dissolved her into a mass of golden particles, flowing in a bright current towards the open hangar. Her rescuer turned to his teammates and shot identical beams in their direction, before turning the device on himself. Their separated molecules sped after the Beedrill's, heading for the familiar reassembly chambers.

Wincing, the Beedrill slid the door of the chamber aside, and stepped out onto a spacious corridor. The windows opposite her held a view of stars, glittering in the endless night of space, and the fast-receding white dot of Inviernus. Behind her, three more doors slid open, and the fish-like Pokémon from before walked over and stood at her side. "Captain Alpha, madame. Welcome aboard the Antimatter."


ATTENTION: Receiving transmission from unknown source. Allow? Y/N