Yay, I finally got around to reading the rest of this. Again, it’s probably weird that I did this having gone through
System:Reboot, but, eh, can’t change the past. I think I elaborate more in my chapter-by-chapter stuff, so I’ll keep this very brief. It’s very interesting how you ended up framing this whole story. The premise you set up in the first few chapters suggested we’d be in for a supernatural-tinted action-fest, possibly with a hint of
Contagion-esque epidemic content.
What I got instead was more of a big investigation, as if they were surveying a natural disaster. There’s not much in the way action, and instead the focus is on the dynamics between the different characters. That’s not a bad thing, by any means. I rather enjoyed the different characters reactions to all the shocking swerves that took place as their various investigations proceeded. That said, it’s obvious that some characters were meant to have a pretty big impact but it came up a bit short for me. Hertz, who I thought might be a villain but was just instead a hapless federal doctor, never really ended up going anywhere and most of his scenes felt like retreading ground that Pixel and her friends had covered. Likewise, Leaf got the short end of the stick as far as developing his character went. So, his death didn’t give me a big case of the feels.
I still had a lot of fun with this, though. And hopefully it’ll help
System:Reboot make more sense (like, I even understand the title a little better, ha ha).
Ch 3
Thankfully their sensitive sensors prevented dangerous collisions
This is just nit-picking, but that sounds awfully redundant.
-Gee, Pixel and Switch sure seem chummy for two folks keeping lots of secrets from each other. Friendship via barroom brawls, I guess?
-Kinda funny seeing Pokémon putting on hazmat suits. But adds to the sci-fi nature of things, I guess. Though this is a semantics issue, doesn’t Pixel pulling out her
own computer in a quarantine zone kind of defeat the purpose of the hazmat suit? It’s getting contaminated and she’s going to touch it later, right? Unless I missed something about the computer being sealed up in some protective case…
-Huh… I’d think Pixel and Switch would be a
bit more hesitant to investigate a tear in the fabric of reality. But, hey, no fear! Go forth and what not.
Ch 4
-I’m gonna ignore Dr. Hertz kind of, sort of violating HIPAA there for a bit b/c this is a PMD fic and health care laws don’t apply. Sorry, it’s a reflex for me to notice that stuff.
-Interesting. I’m not too keen on Hertz’s and Sample’s conversation being vague about Vector’s mutation. It seems like it’s just deliberate to keep it hidden from us as the reader when the fact is that both of them should know exactly what it is and be able to speak openly about it. Unless of course, they really don’t know how to explain it, in which case it might’ve been better for me to know. And oooooh dear I do not like what Dr. Hertz is implying here. Is he actually our villain? Or a villain? I’m gonna guess so. Maybe a well-intentioned extremist, but still. You’re a doctor, man. Do no harm!
Ch 5
-Now we shift to a seedier scene here. And a battle with a trio of thugs. There were a few instances where I think I got tripped up on the verb tenses or redundant use of words (“She span, bringing her horn up and clubbing one on the chin, but the other grabbed it in his paws and dragged her backwards,” “He beat his wings against the wall, trying to beat them free…”).
-Along those lines, I find it a bit weird that some sort of random thug just decided to convince a kid to walk into a rift in space-time “just for the heck of it.” I dunno, I’d have appreciated some more context behind everything. If I was supposed to feel heartbroken at the loss of Vulpix, it didn’t exactly work.
Ch 6
Well, we certainly followed up on Vector rather quickly. Hertz takes a more villainous turn in my eyes and now it seems Switch is planning to spring the guy from the hospital. Admittedly, I wish we had more information about the meeting. The fact that it only gets a few lines is odd when the chapter title seems to imply it’s supposed to be the focus. But it feels like most of the chapter is filler for Switch’s, um, “friends.” Ah well, Connor’s gonna be a grump I suppose.
Ch 7
I appreciate seeing Leaf’s concern here. Up until this part, he was reading pretty generic, outside of his distrust of humans.
N00b gave the steering wheel a playful thump. “Yup! And I call it the awesome rocking bullet!”
Pixel raised an eyebrow and eyed the car cautiously. “Really?”
Switch chuckled, and the lillipup burst into laughter and doubled over on the dashboard. “Nah! I'm trolling you. It's the N00b Mobile! Get in.”
I think I like N00b. ^^ He seems like a comic relief character, but given everyone so far has been pretty serious, he’s a welcome breath of fresh air right now. It’s also hilarious imagining a Lillipup driving a car, so thanks for that mental image!
And boy does it not take long for there to be conflict. Have to say, I was expecting some sort of security issue. So, you caught me completely off guard with the virus spreading and the potential of Leaf being at risk, even if it did ultimately amount to nothing. N00b continues to amuse me with the “not having a plan” shenanigans. This guy’s a hoot! And I do agree that sneaking in through a dining area sounds like something out of a sitcom. Namely because I know sitcoms do things like that (especially ones on Disney Channel, if memory serves). Also, not gonna complain about the hospital’s lack of security. It’s a hospital and they’re generally not Ft. Knox levels of secure. If it was a prison hospital, that’d be another story entirely. At least until that Wartortle guard actually catches on. Gotta have some sort of tension here. And boy does it quickly escalate. Pixel’s such a pure soul, not wanting to leave Switch behind. Nice descriptive bits with the few attacks that got used in the skirmish. Definitely made iit a brief, chaotic escape.
Ch 8
Hertz predictably throws a bit of a hissy fit here, naturally. There’s a bit of irony in the fact that the doctor is hindered from doing doctor things by something he’s probably seeing a different doctor for. Back on the island, man is Leaf not taking any of this well either. Then again, the guy’s been against this the whole time. Still, it’s weird that he’s the de-facto leader of sorts since he’s been so grumpy throughout the story. Makes me wonder how virtuous he’ll be the further I get into this story. Although, perhaps that tidbit with the Mew (Retro?) could be related to it. The picture seems like a bit of a hint that those two were very close, but it’s nothing more than a tease for me at this point.
Ch 9
Okay, the beginning here kind of reads as an extension of Ch 8, here. It seems like Leaf’s making teeth-clenched concessions for the sake of N00b and Switch, though his continued isolation of himself from his teammates does prevent it from feeling very heartfelt. I take it that’s the point. But then we have Switch’s backstory. It’s a bit shrouded in mystery with how he spent some of his time. But you’ve got to feel for the guy. Trapped in another world. Modern medicine fails him. Not fun. Vector wakes back up and is, predictably, incredibly freaked out. Though I’d hesitate to label his reaction a PTSD right out of the gate. Shock or a panic attack might be a more reasonable explanation, unless he’s going to break down repeatedly.
Ch 10
I can’t help but laugh that this thing is called the Flash. Just makes me think of the comic book hero. Still, having some massive radiation spike linked up the the virus seems reasonable enough. Makes me think of, well, radiation sickness. I’m a bit bummed to see everyone splitting up again. Though I get the feeling they’ll eventually meet back up. Interesting that Vector opts to go with Switch and N00b. Considering the hospital might be looking for him, I’d want to stay up in the air as far away from Meta City as possible. And, wow, Switch is such the gentleman. Though that “owe me a favor” bit screams foreshadowing for something they’ll do together in the future.
Actually, I’m surprised how quickly Hertz’s flunkies managed to catch up with the island. Though the tracking chip bit I guess explains everything pretty succinctly. Switch is a bit more savage in battle than I was expecting. Though I guess it plays off Pixel’s concern for all parties’ safety pretty well. Still, her intentions kind of get blown back in her face and it looks like things take a turn for the worst.
Ch 11
A lot more bickering between the two sides then I was expecting. Almost sounds a bit childish. Though, given Sample’s an Exploud, I suppose that actually works out pretty well. I still love N00b and he continues to steal basically every scene he’s in. He’s so upbeat and cheerful! And oh, wow, did that turn out to be an anti-climax. Our heroes’ words managed to get the Pidgeots to flip sides surprisingly easy. It doesn’t really seem like they’re struggling with any obstacles at this point. On the flip side, Sample and Mono inadvertently became wanted ‘mons through sheer stupidity, from what it looks like. Honestly, I’m not sure if Hertz is supposed to be a “main antagonist” of sorts because he sure doesn’t feel like one. But, I’m not complaining there.
Ch 12
Aha, so we get some more details on Vector and what he was up to at the start when he got Flashed. There’s a lot of plan making here, and unsurprisingly N00b has the most potentially reckless suggestion. Though he seems completely confident in himself, which is quite fitting for his characterization thus far. And then there’s a very abrupt transition when it looks like things are going to get interesting. Me thinks this scene might’ve fit batter after the bit with N00b fiddling with the island controls. Especially since it addresses the issue of Pixel’s missing friends with Retro. But, eh, to each their own. I don’t think I’ve seen a pack of Unown with unique personalities (though X’s speaking habit is x-tremely annoying
). Anyway, I have to admit the parting ways scene had me asking several questions about if there weren’t better ways to go about. But those became irrelevant once Switch and Vector decided to focus on the virus and Leaf ultimately let them stay now that their island is freely steerable. So, uh, good job, I guess. XP
Ch 13
Seems Hertz isn’t quite done yet. I feel like you’re going for the well-intentioned extremist angle here. But it falls a bit flat with how desperate Hertz is to get Vector back. Seems more like he just wants the notoriety. Or maybe I’m misreading this. We finally get a new locale to spice things up a bit after all the Meta City stuff. I’m a bit surprised that Vector’s suddenly shifted toward a lone wolf mentality. You’d think he’d want the extra protection given how there are Pokémon looking for him and all that jazz.
Ch 14
Welp, didn’t take long to find trouble. Dang, this village is way harsher than Meta City, straight up exterminating infected Pokémon. It seems like Vector’s also got more to him than he initially thought. Was that some sort of Counter/Mirror Coat stuff he was using back there? Kind of tough to tell with all the attacks flying about from a pack of Pokémon. I like that the escape from the village is a lot more frantic and cumbersome for the trio. And there’s a bit of a dour ending in the black scars progressing toward the village. Glad to see these guys encountering a serious struggle after things were going pretty smoothly for them previously.
Ch 15
Connor’s clearly whipped up into a panic here, though N00b’s insight toward the end is supposed to lead me to believe Connor’s dealing with the stress of this situation in a bit of a different way. Which is understandable. But it’s hard to sympathize while he comes across acting like a jerk. I like the shift to the mountainous exploration, however. It’s quite a bit different from the urbanized locations most of the action’s taken place in. And we get a bit of a close up at these cracks. I kind of envision them more like rifts, so constantly seeing them called “cracks” kind of makes them feel like less of a serious threat than they are. Vector continues to be very contentious. It’s almost like getting close to the cracks makes him angrier. But, hey, there’s a good result to all of this, I think. Vector can deal with the cracks, too. Makes him seem like some sort of miracle patient, but his situation’s so bizarre I’m going to roll with it.
Ch 16
The first scene makes me think of BADEGG (or whatever the name is for that), especially the giving off bits of binary code tidbit. We get confirmation Vector has an effect on the rifts and that they may indeed have a connection to the Fracture. Otherwise, not a lot really happens here other than the trio spends the night in a rotting hut. I’m not entirely sure if this whole chapter was necessary, to be perfectly honest.
Ch 17
Oh, wow, just when it seemed like Hertz’s crew was going in a more sinister direction and would get the drop on poor N00b, random Trubbish to the rescue. And they are once again unceremoniously dealt with and tossed aside. Poor guys. Like, I can’t take them seriously as a threat because nothing seems to be going their way, and I keep wondering if/when they’ll get pushed aside for a bigger threat.
Ch 18
Well, based on the way the Prologue went, I’m not surprised this can be traced back to Vector and his old team. No wonder he had been acting so closed off about this whole thing and was willing to turn himself over to the hospital initially. That said, it’s a bit contradictory that he did that, only to panic upon realizing their plan, then later on be so determined to investigate these cracks. Switch even points out the martyr attitude. Sorry, had to bring that up, cause it crossed my wires a bit.
Ch 19
I can understand Vector being guilty and not wanting anything bad to happen to anyone else, but you’d think if he really wanted to fix things, he’d take the help being offered to him. He seems like a reasonably smart guy. But, hey, an actual confrontation with an infected Pokémon. Admittedly I was expecting more of these, but your virus seems more like the type that renders Pokémon completely comatose, so that’s fair. And even though it’s brief, oh god it touched Pixel! This can’t end well.
Ch 20
Random N00b-sequitir is very random. Not really sure where it was going, to be honest. The bulk of the chapter is devoted to, what I’m going to call a fluffy little scene between Pixel and Vector. Although they’ve had a bit of a frosty relationship up to this point, it seems like that’s taking a bit of a turn. Do I smell romance down the road?
Ch 21
Switch, you upstanding little rapscallion, you. So determined to do right by others, even if you don’t stand to gain anything from it. Even if he’s in his human form some of the time, I think he’s taking to being a Pokémon quite a bit more. In the sense that his behavior seems more similar to Pixel’s than, say, Connor’s. Vector’s taxing himself to the point of exhaustion, which I guess means he’s just that determined to make sure everything’s okay in the end. And I see Switch converses about diet choices. This scene is hilarious to read having read
System:Reboot and seeing a much blunter, snarky version of that conversation courtesy of Macro. Boy, how times can change in a universe.
Ch 22
Heya, we finally see one of the other islands. And, judging by Boost’s response, it seems like Switch knows these guys. Possibly from his escapades before joining up with Connor? There’s a bit of dramatic tension here with the possibility that Vector might be human. Honestly, I hadn’t considered it given his name matched up with the other Pokémon in the story. But, he could be using a pseudonym for all I know. That said, Pixel’s selfish desire not to see Switch leave is a bit, well, out of character for her, based on what she’s done so far. As for Retro’s side of it, the mystery grows. If we’re dealing with literal glitches, than does this mean we have a MissingNo situation on our hands? It’s the king of all glitches, after all.
Ch 23
Well, Switch and Pixel patch things up rather quickly. Still think her outburst was a little on the over-the-top side. But, hey, it’s interesting that Switch never had any intention of returning. I was just expecting that, when this story was said and done, he’d make the choice to stay. But nope, his mind’s already made up. I feel a bit bad for whatever family he vanished from, though. And it looks like things have taken a potentially bad turn for Vector. Which, though it sounds bad, seems nice given he felt a bit powerful with being able to stop the rifts. Meanwhile, Leaf finally shows up again, just as exasperated as ever, it would seem. And panic sets in so they plan to ditch the island after all. Hoo boy, this can only end well, can’t it?
Ch 24
Vector’s back to being a rather stubborn guy, it seems. Guess he really only has a soft spot for Pixel at the moment. Unless I’m misreading this, though, it sounds like Vector knows there’s some sort of other underlying sickness to him that may or may not be related to the virus. And he’s not telling anyone about it? Good grief. Well, he does get a nice, sweet little scene with Pixel there. She’s totally his morality pet. He’d be such a complete crabapple without her. On the flip side, another goofy scene with the hapless Hertz. Seriously, a rickshaw in a futuristic world. That’s hilarious. And possibly
Blade Runner-esque.
Ch 25
Despite Vector’s best efforts to keep everyone out of this System-saving affair, it’s not working. I’m glad to see them all getting involved. And HA! Totally called it. Vector’s head over heels for Pixel. Though I get the feeling there’s gonna be an “ALL IS LOST” moment before they actually end up as a happy couple. Let’s see if I’m right, in that regard. Meanwhile, Hertz finally seems to catch a break and get a stroke of good fortune in his own investigation. But that comes at the cost of all those bad eggs blowing up (which was totally creepy, by the way). And the one steel-type surviving is even more bone-chilling. Wonder what’ll happen to it.
Ch 26
Well, they seemed to reach the jungle safely, although there’s a bit of tension within the team before they even start their excursion. It even looks like the rest of their original large group are going to meet up with them. Interesting place to shove N00b’s backstory into, though. Like, I’m not sure where else you could’ve put it, but a treacherous car ride weaving through rifts seems like a bad time. Hertz is finally able to confirm where the bad eggs came from, too. Although it’s again through a rather risky method. This time around it’s able to work out and it makes the rifts appearing all the more ominous since we now know what fate befalls a Pokémon that contacts one.
Ch 27
Pixel and co. discover the egg site and, yeah, it’s about as difficult for them to swallow as I figured it would be. I’m not surprised Pixel’s taking it very hard. Rather, I’m a bit glad. I know it sounds mean, but it’s probably a gruesome sight so it’s good to see her panicking about all this, even though she wants to put a stop to this virus. On the other hand, holy smokes! There goes Leaf! I’ve got to admit, the virus came on so suddenly and abruptly that it was rather jarring. But I personally think that made it better than drawing it out for so long. Especially since this is the first time we’ve seen the virus actually infect anyone directly. On the flip side, I wasn’t much a fan of Leaf because it still felt like he wasn’t warming up to anyone outside of his teammates (and even then he kept them at a distance), so his infection didn’t leave me bummed or anything.
Ch 28
Man, you just keep adding new twists even this far into the story. So there’s a switching human who’s awake, albeit not very stable. Hertz is definitely getting desperate but really hasn’t tried anything all that risky yet. Even though the next scene is just berry-gathering, you make it unexpectedly tense. Both because of the destroyed bad eggs and rifts, but also some emotional tension between Vector and Pixel. And poor Switch is stuck in the middle of it all trying to keep everyone together. But all of that seems to evaporate because huzzah! Pixel and Retro reunite! <3
Ch 29
Tearful reunion time. The feels are there! … sort of. Admittedly, you never did tell us much about what Retro, Pixel, and Leaf’s relationship was like. There were some passing mentions of, “We’re like a family,” but it’d have been nice to see some of that to make this runion more heartfelt. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still cute. Because Mews make everything adorable! :3 Pixel seems oddly unfazed that her other teammates contracted the virus, however. Maybe she’s in shock or something? I also feel like knowing the bit about the typings affecting survivability might’ve helped out a bit. Especially since it explains what happened to Leaf so well. By the way, Pixel’s reaction to Leaf is much more what I was expecting for her other teammates.
Ch 30
I really liked the heart-to-heart here. It felt very badly needed for the two of them. Unfortunately, I feel like Leaf’s concern/feelings for Retro weren’t shown enough to get the full emotional impact. Still, it’s really nice to see and I like that Retro quickly picked up on what Pixel might think of Vector. She is psychic, after all. And it looks like the spurns Vector on to some much more reckless actions, trying to cure someone of the virus. Turns out he can (not that surprising) but it clearly takes quite the toll on him. Hence my early thought that there’s going to be a moment where it looks like a few folks might not be getting happy endings.
Ch 31
The intrigue continues to grow with these rifts here. I’ve been trying to wrap my mind over just what they are but can’t quite produce a cohesive picture. Needless to say, Hertz’s character has shifted slightly. He’s gone from an intense desire to be rid of the virus to feeling a bit helpless with this whole situation. If only he hadn’t hidden the truth from Vector. Maybe none of this would have happened. Speaking of intrigue growing, experimentations a plenty here. Well, they’re rather haphazard, but everyone seems to be scrambling to generate some conclusion about Vector. He seems really headstrong about trying to do something with his “gift” at this point, but it’s gonna amount to martyrdom at this rate. Then again, he seemed to want that at some point.
Ch 32
Oh, so Vector needs to be conscious to transfer the antibodies. Because things just can’t be easy for everyone, ha ha. The group seems at a loss of how to proceed here, and Switch finally seems to be a bit frazzled by the whole situation. I was starting to think nothing ruffled his feathers (
sorrynotsorry). I’d also like to take this time to say the Unown are totally ridiculous. But the games seem to portray them as either super mysterious or very silly, so I can get down with silly. And then Vector does present a plan and predictably people think he’s crazy. But he did go to the Fracture previously, yes? So that’s gotta mean something! Also, anguished declaration of love. I expected Pixel to choose to go with Vector. I’m just surprised he said something now instead of at the Fracture. Y’know, because rule of drama or something. XP
Ch 33
Whoa. Just whoa. If you had told me this fic was going to have a disaster scenario, I wouldn’t have believed you. It reminds me of
2012 or
The Day After Tomorrow. Everything goes completely dark/off the grid and takes a turn for the worse. You manage to find a way to present all the different factions we’ve encountered in the story thus far and what sort of effect it has on them, but it never really drags and creates this overwhelming sense of hopelessness for Pixel and co. It definitely caused the urgency of this to spike and it really was quite the shocking swerve given the way the last few chapters had gone.
Ch 34
Unexpected Vector backstory. Can’t help but feel sorry for the poor guy. At the same time, hey a brief glimpse into Pixel’s life on the island. Would’ve been nicer to see it earlier. Still, the whole scene is very sweet and stands as a stark contrast to the previous chapter, which was just a shocking slap in the face. On the other hand, glad to see Retro finally deciding to take some initiative here. She seemed a bit hesitant to do much of anything when she’s a Mew and should have some decent abilities!
Into the Fracture we go and it does come across as creepy. Also has a bit of a spacewalk vibe to it, strangely enough. This is sci-fi we’re dealing with, after all. It’s a bit mind-trippy, and I’m assuming the Glitch City is supposed to reference something but it’s totally flying over my head. <.<;
Ch 35
The spooky excavation of the Fracture continues. I’m surprised that Vector’s old crew is still in tact (in a manner of speaking), and they seem to have discovered something in an abandoned lab. Because of course it’s an abandoned lab. Run away! True to form, the distorted lab screws around with the crew. Despite all of this, you throw quite a bit of levity into the moment. But it’s not awkward. More like they’re trying to deal with their nerves through humor, which I can appreciate. Also, trying to make a new Pokémon, huh? This is certainly a different take on the whole Mewtwo development going horribly wrong, if I’m reading this right. As is the Kangaskhan Joey. That’s a real dour way to look at it. And, actually…
The Fracture hadn't just started with that explosion. It had started the day that joey had been separated from its mother.
That’s one heck of a wham line. And certainly not how I would’ve expected all of this to have started. Quite the surprise!
Ch 36
MissingNo! I mean, with a title like “Glitched” you kind of get the impression something like this might pop up. It’s certainly a different sort of take on this glitch, not that I’ve really read a lot of stuff with MissingNo to begin with. And this battle is very unusual. From the sound effects that MissingNo makes to its sudden transition to 1337 sp34k and form shiftin. Reminds me of the distorted/glitched screens or games that deliberately screw with the interface to mess with the player. Also, having it use (what I think is) Sacred Fire in that Ho-Oh(?) forme makes me think of a literal firewall. Clever! And, though it was only described, using ultraviolet light to totally mess up the heroic trio was also interesting and gave MissingNo this even greater otherworldly vibe to it.
And it looks like Vector actually survived (or, at least, didn’t need to be revived). Yay! Hertz even jumps into the fray to get him into the hospital. Guess he’s finally able to make a difference in some way.
Epilogue
I think after everything that these guys have been through they deserve their happy ending. Sure, a couple of folks were lost around the way, but this reads as much more happy than bittersweet. And with a few touching moments, too. Connor’s not a total grump after all (kinda wish I could’ve seen it earlier). And it looks like the humans have a way back home. Switch is dealing with the fact that he’d technically be leaving a human life behind for good. There’s definitely a fresh start vibe to the whole finale, with plans to form up a new investigation team. Which is nice bookending, since it more-or-less started with Pixel and the investigation team she was on running into Switch.
There are a few open-ended tidbits, namely about the Fracture and its possible connection to Mewtwo, and what the heck was up with MissingNo forming from the experiments. But considering MissingNo’s basically a glitchy entity coming out of nowhere just for the finale, I’m too miffed about the lack of backstory.
