Chapter 9: Panic Aboard the Axiatomic Link…Again!

I was SO bored.

Not to mention guilty, terrified, and desperate for any way possible to ease the tension I could feel in the ship. Not counting the brain-in-the-computer Adam Malkovich, there were five of us, me, Big Amy, Chikorita, Grovyle, and Samus, all crowded in a little spaceship traveling to the supposedly wrecked remains of a certain Galactic Federation flagship, the Axiatomic Link. The fact that everyone now knew that I knew information about all of them on the scale of an omniscient narrator was responsible for the eerie silence. Good thing I asked Big Amy if we could trade our collections of drawings we made. Even better that we even remembered to collect our drawings from the Pokéathlon Contest before we left.

So there I was, sitting on the ground, carefully examining all of Big Amy's paintings, while she was examining all of my drawings. On one hand, I wasn't really that surprised since I already knew she made them, yet on the other hand, seeing them clearly in real life was so much more captivating than when I described them in prose. Every picture (the Time Gear ones especially) had such a brilliance, intensity and level of detail that I realized I could never match in my art. In other words, even though she was younger than me...she was a much better artist than me too.

I had no idea why.

Just then, I heard her gasp. "What?" I asked.

"Call me crazy, but…I just get this feeling that these thingies feel familiar."

"Familiar how?"

"It's the same feeling at those times when my Dimensional Scream—Hey wait a second! I haven't gotten one of those in…since…"

"That time with Master Wigglytuff's Perfect Apple from the graduation exam?" I figured I might as well be honest with what I knew.

"Oh yeah! Wow…a year…"

Grovyle finally decided to say something. "Amy, it doesn't work in the future, remember? But SHE knows that, of course."

I sighed. "I dunno…I always thought that it didn't work because time stood still, so to speak. But seeing how it's not activating at all here either…I guess you're right."

Meanwhile, Adam asked Samus, "What the heck is a Dimensional Scream?"

"Don't ask me. Ask Miss Omniscient person here," said Samus.

So I had to explain it to him. As I did, I wanted to scream in frustration. Everyone was being so cold to me! Well, except maybe Big Amy and Chikorita…but still! True, maybe I'd feel extremely creeped out if I met a total stranger who could tell me every single event that ever happened in my life in glorious detail. But at least I could always use him to help me convey exactly what I was like back then, especially if he was a good person. On the other hand, none of these people were exactly looking to write their memoirs in said glorious detail. They were too busy living in the moment. Translation: I was totally screwed. I sighed. I already missed the fun times we had in Gaijin City. Somehow, I was going to have to find some way to convince them that I was a good person, too.

"Little Amy! Wake up!"

"Ugh…huh?" Big Amy was shaking me awake again. Unfortunately, I was so tired from the Pokéathlon Contest and got so bored that I couldn't help falling asleep. I rubbed my eyes and pushed myself up from the steel floor, feeling really sore in the head. Ow…my sinuses haven't felt this nauseated since the last time I took a nap in the afternoon (which was only a few days ago, as in June 22, 2010), and I chastised myself for falling asleep at all.

"I think we're here," said Chikorita, pointing at the window with her leaf.

Big Amy jumped on my head again, and Grovyle's glare from across the room deepened. I cringed. I wished he still wasn't so mad at me; I wished that confession was all a bad dream. Trying (without much luck) to shake off that sick feeling, I clambered to the window next to Chikorita and looked out.

The G.F.S. Axiatomic Link was floating in orbit around Planet K-2L below, in the midst of asteroids and other space debris. It looked like an attractive combination of the Axiom, the Metamo Ark, and the G.F.S. Valhalla, spaceships I remembered from Wall-E, Meteos, and Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, respectively. Only it wasn't very attractive; there was a massive hole from where I guessed the Space Pirates attacked it, and the ship's outer hull had cracks and disfigurements all over it. It was amazing that Samus was able to find a place to land at all. It was in an abandoned hangar with the airlock doors permanently ripped off.

Adam finally said something to break the silence. "Lady, I've downloaded the map for you."

"Thanks, Adam."

"Okay, people. It's about -50 degrees Celsius out there, and I don't detect any oxygen or nitrogen either. You know what that means."

"What?" asked Big Amy and Chikorita.

"You'll need space suits," curtly explained Samus.

Big Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle all double-checked the integrity of the Oxygen Orb membranes around themselves, and seeing them do so made me double-check that the oxygen level in my space suit was at 100% too. It was.

Samus explained to me, "Okay, so here's the deal, Miss Omniscient. Our mission is to get to the commander's room, find the security videos from August 23, 2499, and verify if what you said was true. Any objections?"

"Any objections, Lady?" Adam piped in, sounding like he was trying to stifle a laugh.

"Be serious, Adam," snapped Samus.

"No sir," I quickly replied. Then for good measure, I added to Samus, "No ma'am."

"Then let's go. And don't expect me to babysit you or anything."

Without another word, the five of us squeezed into that elevator and went out through the bottom. The moment we stepped out, we all started floating, totally freaking the Pokémon out.

"AAAAH! Wh-what is this?" they shouted in dismay. Their arms flailed wildly, but to no effect.

"There's no gravity here to pin us to the ground," I quickly explained. "There's supposed to be no gravity in space, and the ship probably had artificial gravity. But…Wh-whoa! I can't move either!" I was a pretty good swimmer, but no matter what strokes I tried, nothing worked. I couldn't move anywhere.

Samus sighed. "Amateurs." She shot Power Beams from her Arm Cannon, and the force made her fly in the opposite direction of the blasts. Turns out she was aiming for the square panel device next to a door on the wall. The impact made the panel light up, and the door opened. What do you know? The doors still worked. She then used the beam to propel herself behind us and kick us straight through the door, following after us.

"WAGH!" we shouted when we fell to the ground.

"Hey, I'm not floating anymore!" exclaimed Big Amy.

"Why? What happened?" asked Chikorita in dismay.

"I think it's artificial gravity. It still works in here," I explained.

Samus landed next to us. "Of course you'd know about it. I bet you also know about the time I investigated the G.F.S. Valhalla too, huh? Now let's go." Aargh. Samus had no idea how right she was, which made me cringe even more. See, I watched my brother played all of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and beat the game. Maybe there were Metroids here too? Nah. They had to be extinct by now if Samus was traveling with brain-in-a-computer Adam Malkovich.

She turned on the map of the place. Of course, since it was in her visor, only she could see it, and so led the way to the commander's room. Grovyle covered us from behind in full vigilance mode. Chikorita walked as close to me as she possible, practically pushing me and (almost) bogging my legs down. I could tell she was terrified as I was, maybe even more so, yet at the same time, trying to convince herself that this was her first really exciting space adventure. Big Amy stayed where she was, though she looked up at the leaky ceiling a lot, clutching my head more tightly than usual. It was supposed to feel soft and comfy, but now it was starting to actually hurt a little, sort of like wearing a really tight scrunchie in my hair all day. Or a headband, for that matter. My heart raced every time I heard a weird noise, but it was always nothing.

We walked through the maze of corridors, climbed ladders, and rode on elevators. About halfway there, though, a slimy, spiky, eye-speckled multi-tentacled green slug-like creature I recognized from Missile Mouse suddenly burst in on us through the wall. Luckily, Samus and Grovyle dispatched it in half a second. Big Amy, Chikorita, and I just stared at the lifeless, quivering monstrosity, breathing hard, clutching to each other, trying to calm our rapidly beating hearts.

"I don't do many escort missions," said Samus to the three of us. "So just consider yourselves lucky that you're still alive."

Grovyle said, "Huh. Personally, I got used to this a long time ago. You guys aren't dying on my watch."

"Good to know," replied Samus. Did just she smile at him for a second there? Maybe she was starting to respect the guy.

I didn't have much time to reflect on it; we had to move. Luckily, we didn't need Grovyle's extra vigilance, because we didn't encounter anything else on the way to the commander's room. But at the same time…

"Hey, Little Amy? Out of curiosity, what are your storytelling instincts telling you about what we might find up there?" asked Chikorita.

"Uuuh…my storytelling instincts? Why?" I said.

"Yeah, since my Dimensional Scream isn't really working anymore, we sorta need it right now," explained Big Amy.

"I see…" How was I going to—? Well, since my secret was out, I might as well be honest; I've always been a crappy liar. "They tell me that we're going to find full video records of what happened in this new timeline, and believe me, it will be scary."

"S-s-scary?" whimpered Chikorita.

"And then what?" asked Big Amy.

"And then…uh…I don't know…" Actually, what my storytelling instincts were really telling me was that after we see the videos, maybe…just maybe…something horrible might happen. But I didn't know exactly what; it was just a gut feeling. A gut feeling that maybe at that very moment, someone was watching us. Someone we didn't know. Huh. Maybe this dilapidated ship was putting my brain into overdrive, making me think it was all foreshadowing something. Furthermore, even if nothing was going to happen, I was even less sure about what Samus would do with us once we made it back to the ship. Would she turn us over to the Space Pirates? She wouldn't, would she? Maybe we could play along and once she gets her job back, break out of Space Pirate jail. I turned those thoughts over and over in my mind, desperately hoping to find a way out.

Finally, we arrived at the door to the commander's room, only to find it was locked shut. There were two tiny circular tunnels on either side of the door. Morph Ball tunnels. "I can handle this," said Samus, stepping forward. "Watch…and learn."

I'm not sure which button she pressed or what, but right then and there, she transformed herself into a basketball-sized orange ball. Big Amy and Chikorita almost screamed again, while Grovyle blanched and gasped, "Wh-what the heck—?"

"W-we saw this before—" stuttered Chikorita.

"It's her awesome Morph Ball ability that her Power Suit gives her. Personally, I still have no idea how she exactly does it," I explained.

"And no, I'm not going to tell you," she replied, which made me jump. It was really creepy hearing her voice coming from that orange ball. She then rolled into the tunnel on the right and jumped up whenever there was a change in elevation. She could even magnetically hang on the wall via a few scattered Spider Ball tracks.

"Ooo, I wanna do that too!" exclaimed Big Amy, jumping up and down. She bounced off my head, curled herself up into a ball (in the exact same way she did when using the Rollout move), and rolled into the tunnel on the left. To our amazement, she fit perfectly. And whenever she came across any Spider Ball tracks, she just wedged her tiny limbs into the grooves and shimmied her way up. She could even traverse the tracks on the ceiling like they were monkey bars. Wow. All my life, I had never been able to traverse monkey bars, considering how pathetically weak my arms were compared to my legs. She really was amazing.

Chikorita and I watched Big Amy and Samus expertly navigate the tiny tunnels and hit every switch along the way, while Grovyle stayed on the lookout for any more space slugs. When the two of them hit the last of the switches, the door opened, and they jumped down. Big Amy bounced back on my head, and Samus reverted out of Morph Ball mode. "Woooow…" Chikorita and I whispered in awe. I wished I could do what they just did.

"That was so much fun! I wish you could've come up there with me, Chikorita!" raved Big Amy. Chikorita coughed something about being too fat to squeeze into the tunnels.

"Just doing what I do," said Samus.

We went into the room. I was shocked. It looked exactly as I imagined it. It was very spacious, and there was a console in the middle of the room that I guessed where hologram reports could come from. There were windows all around, and a wide airlock door to the left that looked wide enough to kick a bunch of people though. At the far end in the front was a computer console that lined the wall, but no controls; perfect for a certain autopilot. "A-ha. Found it," said Samus, walking up to a security camera attached to the wall on the right. She used her scan visor to scan the camera, bringing it to life. Then she walked to the console in the center of the room, pressed a few buttons, and activated it too. She browsed through the files for August 23, 2499, and picked out one around 2:55 am. "This might be it," she concluded.

After pressing a few more buttons, the console shot a projection to the ceiling and spread a grid hologram over the whole room, freaking the Pokémon out a little.

"It's okay—it's harmless," I quickly explained.

Samus announced, "Brace yourselves. In a few seconds, you're going to see exactly what happened in this room on August 23, 2499, at 2:55 am. I sure hope it refreshes your memory, Puffball Girl."

"Y-yeah, me too…" she uttered, teeth chattering.

"I might recognize something…" mused Grovyle.

Finally, Samus addressed me, "And Miss Omniscient? I'm sure this will all be ancient history for you."

Ancient history, maybe. But how much will be new to me? Only one way to find out. After the hologram came into fruition, we walked to the wall on the right, sat down, cleared our eyes and ears, and watched.

The room was very dark, but was also very shiny and new, too. No holes, no space dust, nothing. There was someone at the computer console in the front of the room. He was a steering-wheel-shaped robot that hung from the ceiling, pressing random buttons with his bottommost handle. I held my breath.

Suddenly, the door to our left, the one we came in through, opened. A little robot with a big red light on his head sped through. "It's GO-4," I whispered. Samus shushed me.

GO-4 skated to the steering-wheel robot and emitted lots of bleeping noises. The steering-wheel robot turned, and the single glowing red eye in the center confirmed what I suspected. He was Auto! So it was true. Characters—no, bad guys—from Wall-E were appearing in this reality too.

We heard several voices arguing with each other getting louder and louder. Suddenly, we heard a loud pummeling sound, and all of the voices shouting in pain at once. Then seven people all flew in through at once and landed in a sprawling heap in front of the console, followed by a mess of scientific equipment that slammed into them, following by two 7-foot-tall intimidating security robots that strode in. We shuddered at their strength; they just sent seven people—well, six people and a toddler—flying. I was beginning to worry that robots ruled the world back then. Of course, that meant they practically did now too.

Auto ran a scanner over the disheveled and groaning group of what appeared to be scientists. He also scanned the equipment, and then pressed a button on the monitor, listing one big rule clearly for them all to see. It read:

Axiatomic Link Regulation 752.30:
No unauthorized experiments will be tolerated, especially those that jeopardize the health of people aboard the ship. Violators will be abandoned on a deserted planet/asteroid, whichever comes first.

Auto returned to the front and pressed several more buttons, finally speaking as he went. "Tylor Bokowski…Mariam Kholbeck…William Fangini…Jared Naruda…Roy Purima…Jean Purima…and finally, Amy Vee Purima. Otherwise known as the maverick scientific group The Dimensional Screamers." For each person's name, a data file came up on the screen showing what each person looked like, as well as other pertinent information. We could quickly tell who was who.

At the mention of Amy's name, we all gasped. "That…was me?" Big Amy whispered in shock.

Finally, Auto turned around and zoomed to the center of the room in front of the group. He then practically shouted in their faces, "You have all been hereby charged with breaking regulation 752.30: The development and performance of an unauthorized experiment! Furthermore…you had the gall to attempt one that would change the temporal fabric." The hulking, intimidating captain reprimanded them with a booming digitized voice that got into their head and makes it nearly impossible to think of a rebuttal. With his malevolent red "eye", his frighteningly fast agility, cold, calculating logic, and his ability to call upon an arsenal of weapons and security guards, it was clear he wouldn't take any excuses.

But Roy managed to think of one. "Uh, captain, it was only to provide a glimpse of either the future or the past, therefore allowing planetary leaders to make wiser decisions in their policy making—"

"YOU KNOW THAT MANIPULATING TIME COULD BRING ABOUT CATASTROPHIC CONSEQUENCES FOR ALL OF HISTORY! IF YOU ALTER ANYTHING IN THE PAST THE RESULTING PARADOXES WOULD DEVASTATE EVERYTHING IN THE FUTURE! DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?" bellowed Auto, getting angrier by the minute. The other five scientists tried to argue, but to no avail. I shuddered at the truth of Auto's words; we were living in a paradox already.

DING-DONG! went the console. The readings indicated:

Upcoming planet: 12 light-years away and counting.

We gasped. We all recognized the beautiful planet on the monitor. "Planet Portania…" I whispered.

"…our home!" gasped the Pokémon.

"Oh no, this won't do," said AUTO. He pressed to the next nearby body, which said,

Upcoming asteroid: 32 light-years away and counting.

Apparently, AUTO decided that was the perfect place for the punishment, because he started slowed the ship out of hyperspeed. "You know regulations," he said as he input some commands into the giant computer console on the nearby wall. "This is where we shall abandon you."

"No, wait!" they shouted. They tried to catch him, but he was faster. He zoomed to the front and typed out some commands. The screen showed the ID's of all seven people turn gray at 3:04:43 on August 23, 2499.

They all gasped in horror, and so did I; I knew as well as they that a gray ID card meant deceased. Auto pretended to not notice. "Irrelevant. I must complete my directive," he said, with such cold logic that only he, the mighty Auto, could muster so successfully.

Then the Axiatomic Link came to a stop. It jumped out of hyperspeed and started flying in towards the deserted asteroid. As it was landing, we could hear the voices of everyone on the ship from the security cameras dotting the edges of the monitor. Apparently, they had already been woken up by Auto's tirade and noticed the odd landscape outside their windows, and were all wondering if that was really the Planet K-2L they had come to colonize.

"Any final statements?" sympathetically mocked Auto. By now, all seven were tied up by the security guards.

"This experiment has the potential to see conflicts before they happen. We could use this to preserve peace for eternity!" pleaded Jean.

"Let's hope you aren't making the biggest mistake in human history. We are the only ones who ever know how to do these." said Roy, in an ominous tone while glaring straight into Auto's eye.

"Oh, come on! We were so close, too," complained Tylor, not taking it very seriously, apparently.

"Do we HAVE to die of asphyxiation?" asked Jared, flippantly.

"D-does the kid have to be involved in this, too?" asked Mariam, nervously looking at little Amy Purima.

William Fangini was too nervous to say anything and just whimpered. I held my breath, even though I already knew what Auto would say next.

"...Yes."

I could feel the coldness dripping from his response, and I shuddered. This was just like The Cold Equations all over again. Well, not quite, but still! Good thing the little Amy Purima was asleep throughout this entire harangue. We all wondered how that was even possible, what with all the shouting. Finally, Auto gave the command that sealed their fates. "Do it!"

BOOT! The security guards literally kicked the seven of them and all the experimental equipment (including the numerous atomic clocks) outside. They landed sprawled out on the rocky surface, all tied up. Then the hatch was closed. The engines fired up and the ship began to rise. All of the passengers stared out the windows to the rouge scientists dumped out onto the asteroid below. Some unsympathetic ones even took sadistic pride in waving goodbye to them (and some people just waved for the fun of it). I bet not many people even knew them.

"No…wait…" was the last thing we could hear them say before they ran out of air and started suffocating. Though the Axiatomic Link flew farther and farther away, that didn't diminish the scene of suffering. The most disturbing part was when little Amy Purima finally woke up only to discover the lack of oxygen on the rock. And she tried to cry, but she couldn't, and…! I had to hug Big Amy to make sure she was really there, turned away, and sobbed in horror, choking, as if oxygen ran out for us too.

We were shaking as the hologram projection ended. So that must've been what Sheena felt like when she saw "Damos" betray Arceus in the 12th Pokémon movie. Even though I knew everything that was going to happen, seeing what exactly happened gave it a weight that I never expected it would have in reality. None of us could say anything…except Samus.

"…What do you know? Miss Omniscient's story here was true. At least the first part of it."

Finally, even we were finally able to discuss it. "That was really…me?" gasped Big Amy.

"B-but you're still alive…" stuttered Chikorita.

"That planet—our home—on the monitor…" noted Grovyle. "Did you say that when it was paralyzed, Auto abandoned them all there instead?"

"That's right. That's exactly right…" I replied.

In fact, we were so aghast, we never saw what was coming next. At first, I thought it was just a hallucination, but half a second later, we realized that the circular red glow, eerily similar to Primal Dialga's, didn't go away. It was still on! "AUTO?" I exclaimed in dismay, staggering to the left to run through the door. I crashed into it. To my horror, I found that the door behind us had locked.

Even Grovyle noticed and was alarmed. "Wait, so he's actually here?"

"Life-forms detected. Scanning…" it said. An unknown flash lit the room for a second, and the next thing we knew, we were surrounded by an aura of light pink particles that were probably just holograms. There were none around Samus, and very little around Grovyle and Chikorita. But around Big Amy and me…

"AAAAAAAAAH!" the three of us shouted, freaking out.

"One genetic signature identified. Amy Vee Purima. Still alive? Not possible. Wait…interdimensional particle emission detected." We gulped as Grovyle, Chikorita, and Samus quickly stepped away from us. For around Big Amy and me, the concentration of those pink particles was by far the densest. And around me, I could barely see through them at all. My heart raced, and I desperately wondered what in the world it meant. Did we have some special power? Did I pick something up when Palkia/Zoroark dragged me into this dimension? What was it, anyway?

"Whoa-ho! Just az Wii thought!" came a voice from nowhere. Chikorita jumped close to me again in shock. Suddenly, Auto shot a massive laser at us that expanded right before impact and enveloped the five of us in a red translucent energy field. None of us could move. Big Amy, Chikorita, and I were all trapped in the same energy field, and Grovyle let out a yell of anguish when he realized he had no way of reaching his friends. Not even Samus' power beams or missiles did a thing.

Zark and Zork suddenly materialized in front of us and shouted, "BOO!"

"AAAAH! The meanie-butts!" Big Amy and Chikorita screamed. My shouts of terror overlapped them when four other Space Pirates similarly materialized around the perimeter of the room.

They laughed and hi-fived each other, sort of. "C? C? l33t classic. Works on dem every time," chuckled Zark.

"How do u n00bs like our l33t invisibility cloaks?" guffawed Zork.

I was stunned, and could only utter, "A—wha—how did—I thought Mr. Referee blasted you guys into the stratosphere! So how—?"

"Oh yeh. Dat ol' timer. Teh Boss-Man beamed us up & drove us here," said Zark.

"What do you punks want?" growled Grovyle.

"Wii r here 2 take u 2 teh Boss-Man, & dere's nothin' u can do 2 stop us, l00zors!"

All six Space Pirates converged on us at once, swaggering and sniggering. We couldn't move. Team Pecha and I started to panic, as if Dusknoir and his Sableye lackeys were coming to drag them through the Dimensional Hole again. "No…no…NOOOO!"

They pushed us out back the way we came and down several corridors, until we saw a massive hole in the wall that we quickly realized was the opening of a Space Pirate vessel. The organic and fleshy walls made it feel like we were being pushed down the gullet of a very hungry space monster, especially when the maw snapped shut behind us. Finally, they shoved us against the wall on the far side of the chamber. Ghastly tentacles wrapped around us as the red force fields disappeared. We still couldn't move. The tentacles promptly restrained us, and oozed such disgusting liquids that it paralyzed me in revulsion, anyway. What exactly were they going to do to us, anyway?

Zark and Zork faced us from the far side of the room opposite of us. "Here's teh Boss-Man!" they announced simultaneously. We held our breaths. The fleshy door opened up from behind them to reveal a balding, 62-year-old man wearing an authoritative commander uniform. His eyes were sharp, and I could feel an undeniable gravitas to his being. Wait. What was a human doing here? Samus gasped, "Commander Tierney?" It made me gasp too. Commander Tierney, as in, the same guy from Sigma Star Saga? I mean, I probably should be used to these crazy crossovers by now…but still!

"Well, well, well. Samus Aran. What am I going to do with you? I clearly gave you a hint on how to get your job back, but what did you do? You failed to dump them back to where they came from, like I told you to. Instead, you drove them here, a clearly restricted sector of space."

"Restricted? How?" I exclaimed. No one told me this sector of space was restricted. I desperately looked to Samus for an answer, but judging by the pained look that came across her face, I realized that she purposefully didn't tell us. Maybe she assumed that I already knew. Well, that was one assumption that was clearly wrong. "Wait. You mean because this was a Space Pirate...hotspot?" I speculated. She nodded painfully.

"Anyway, High Command may turn a blind eye, but I cannot and will not continue to ignore your clearly insubordinate behavior, Samus. Therefore, I am forced to take disciplinary measures," he said, snapping his fingers.

A second later, a bluish-gray cybernetic alien with glowing green lines all over his body emerged from a door really high up and jumped, landing right next to the commander. He was a bit taller.

Samus and I gasped at the same time, "Sylux!" At that moment, Samus managed to wrench her Arm Cannon free and shoot several Super Missiles at the guy, but he was faster. He expertly dodged them all, letting them hit the walls of the ship to no effect. Then he shot a pulsating, blinding, multicolored beam at her. Since she was tied right next to me, it almost hit me, too.

I had to shut my eyes. The light wouldn't go away, and a loud, mechanical whining sound grated against my ears. When it was finally over, I heard Grovyle, Big Amy, and Chikorita gasp. I opened my eyes and gasped too. Samus was suddenly in her official blue Zero Suit, and I could finally see her entire face. She might've been about 25 years old or so, but looked much more mature than me thanks to the seriousness in her cold, blue eyes. Even though her blond hair was tied back in a ponytail, it still came all the way down to her waist. Her hair length must've been a bit longer than Amy Purima's. I then turned to Sylux to see where that beam came from. It looked like his ordinary sharp arm cannon to me.

Sylux laughed and spoke in the same loud, hollow voice I always imagined Dialga and Palkia having. "HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT? SUIT-DEACTIVATOR BEAM. GALACTIC FEDERATION PROTOTYPE. NOW I HAVE EXCLUSIVE ACCESS TO ALL OF THEIR WEAPONS, OF COURSE." What disturbed me the most was the fact that one beam could deactivate an entire power suit. If he could do it to Samus, he could do it to me too.

"Guess no promotion 4 u, Sa-moose! ROFL LOL!" The meanie-butts really did start rolling on the floor laughing. I just stared at them, aghast. I mean, I could understand how people could mispronounce Samus' name, but turning it into a joke? That was starting to go too far!

Big Amy, Chikorita, and Grovyle just continued staring at Samus in disbelief. "You're a human too?" exclaimed Big Amy in shock.

"W8 w8 w8. U didn't know she wuz a human?"

"OMG! U must b teh n00biest n00bs of all time!" Yeah, they really were going to die laughing.

Chikorita started sobbing and whimpered in a crushed voice, "Why do they keep calling us n00bs?"

"Shut up! Shut up, you punks!" shouted Grovyle, which only caused the tentacles to wrap even tighter, nearly choking him. I was amazed Samus didn't say a thing at all, but judging by the way she was ferociously glaring at Commander Tierney and Sylux, she probably thought saying anything to them at that point would only make things worse. Wow. She was brave.

As if answering an unasked question, Commander Tierney explained, "Now we will gladly finish the job for you. Oh yeah, and since we fired you, Galactic Federation regulations can't protect you anymore. So. Sylux?"

"YES?"

"Punish her. As much as you want."

"WITH PLEASURE," he grinned, cracking his knuckles like Captain Gantu from Lilo and Stitch—okay, I've seriously got to stop making all of these obscure cultural references.

We tried shouting and complaining how unfair it was, but to no avail. The tentacles instantly pulled Samus into the wall, and Sylux jumped up to a door somewhere above us. I felt sick. Sylux always held an unknown massive grudge against the Galactic Federation, and especially Samus. If it weren't for us, she wouldn't have fallen into this death trap…I stopped my thoughts. If Sylux was working with the Space Pirates, whom were also working with the Galactic Federation, then this conspiracy went down much further than I thought.

The meanie-butts became eerily quiet for once, but I didn't like the way they stepped on either side to make way for Commander Tierney, grinning at us. Commander Tierney dusted his hands off and said, "Now I am ready to deal with both of you Amy's." We gulped. All of a sudden, he glowed with a sick purple film and morphed into…

I blanched. "You're not Commander Tierney…you're Zoroark!"

The black bipedal monster fox chuckled demonically and strode up to me. "Well, well, well. Amy [you-know-who]. We finally meet."

I smacked my forehead, or at least tried to. "Zork, Zark…and Zoroak! Of course you'd be their Boss-Man! You—you're the one who pulled us to the future! And…you pulled me into this alternate dimension as Palkia, right? That wasn't a dream, right?" I asked.

"They never really fired Samus, did they? You're lying to her, aren't you?" accused Grovyle.

"Very observant of you two."

"Why?" we asked at the same time, but I gritted my teeth. Really, how could he do such an evil thing to her?

"Because. She will soon outlive her usefulness," he grinned evilly. I growled in frustration. Why wasn't anyone giving me a straight answer around here?

"However, I can tell you what I'm going to do to you. Amy Vee Purima…all you ever wanted was your memories to come back, right? I shall arrange that."

She whispered in hope, "You mean…?"

Grovyle paled in fear. "You don't mean…"

"Yes. Everything that happened before you met Chikorita. Everything. No more stories, no more lies—just the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. You can see everything, and then you shall remember it all. Permanently."

"NO! Don't do it, Amy! I swear, don't do it!" shouted Grovyle. He was absolutely desperate.

I could tell Big Amy was extremely conflicted. She really wanted to know everything, but on the other hand, Grovyle did say she was better off not knowing. I was also conflicted. Maybe it would be good to know exactly what happened, so I could have a better understanding of her and Grovyle. And besides, what if we ended up getting a chance to see my past too? Maybe then they could finally understand me too.

Zoroark glared and frowned at Grovyle. "I never said I would give you all a choice." Without warning, he charged up a ball of dark energy and launched it at all of us. Was it Dark Pulse? I shut my eyes and tensed, waiting for the painful impact.

There was no painful impact. It was the deep, heavy, somnolent sensation that was Dark Void. I couldn't keep my eyes open for much longer…no…

"Boss-Man!"

"U pwned dem! U r so l33t!" The meanie-butts' callous laughter was the last thing I heard.

To be continued…

Coming up next: Zoroark. Zoroark! HE was working behind the scenes all this time, just to trap us like this! I still can't believe we even ended up in this mess. How can we ever get out? Wait a second…Uh-oh. Floating rocks? No wind or sun? Everlasting darkness? AAAH! We're Trapped in the Past! How?