Hello, all! Here's a new story to my Explorers series. Consider it a sequel to Explorers of Eras, as some story elements will make more sense if you've read that first. However, I'm going to do my best to write this where that wouldn't be necessary.
Chapter 1: Ejection
Porygon-Z flew as fast as he could, knowing he was in way over his head. He also knew he was in too deep to back out. He always was. Keeping pace behind him was a short bipedal, hooded figure with big, gloved paws and a long orange tail with reddish brown stripes, a tail tuft and a ribbon tied on the end, colored in a gradient of warm tones. The outline of the creature's large ears stood under the hood, and a light panting could be heard as the creature ran.
"I'm so sorry. If I only knew…" Porygon-Z buzzed with a tone tinged in regret. He had taken part in something diabolical and plucked this creature from her home, and now he was fighting to set her free. He had to get through the northern mountains and get her to safety. "You doing okay?"
The creature huffed, "I'll manage." The softness of her voice was unencumbered by her labored breathing, but the fear was only thinly veiled.
"You'll be safe soon, Mickey. Once we're through the mountain range—" Porygon-Z started to say, only to be cut off by distant voices.
"Where'd they go?" a disembodied voice snarled.
"They can't be that far ahead," came a digitized voice similar to Porygon-Z's own.
"No…!" mumbled Mickey, her voice hitched in mounting horror.
"Go on ahead," Porygon-Z insisted. "I'll slow them down then lure them off. It's you they want. Get out of here. Get to the guild. Give the guildmaster that thing I gave you earlier. She'll get the full story after she touches it."
Mickey stopped short, and though Porygon-Z couldn't see the shock in her eyes from under her hood, he could feel it boring into him. "But—"
"Go!" Porygon-Z snapped, startling her and himself. Giving a moment's pause to reel himself in, he urged, "Go. It's mine and my brother's fault for buying into the plan that brought you here, before we realized that the beings of your world were just as alive as us. Please, go!"
Before Mickey could protest, that far off digitized voice and its source were upon them. A Pokémon that looked just like Porygon-Z, but shorter and with a more compact stature with clearer eyes, floated over. With a desperate and angry glare in his eyes, he shouted, "Brother, stop this! If what the doctor said is true, she's the key to fixing you, to not dooming me to a bugged program."
"At what cost, my brother?" Porygon-Z asked, floating defensively in front of Mickey. "This isn't right! This creature and the beings from her world are just as alive as we are, just as sentient as we are. Why should we so callously impose ourselves on beings from another realm for our comfort? It isn't right."
"So you'd condemn us both instead of finding an optimal program," Porygon2 murmured. "What happened to that drive that led to you becoming an explorer?!"
Both digital brothers locked eyes, their fury cold as primitive stone. The tension was palpable enough to cut with an Iron Thorn and loomed in such a way that no one would dare to try. At once, each of the Porygon evolutions cried out, "Hyper Beam!" Their bursts of destructive power were unleashed, the force of the beams' collision sending shockwaves through the air and the earth. It was so bright, Mickey had to shield her eyes with her cloak. The cataclysmic clash of powers made the fur on her tail stand on end. Her instincts were screaming at her to leave.
Mickey scampered off as fast as her paws could carry her, leaving nothing but a prayer that Porygon-Z would be able to escape on his own.