MATURE: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Chapter 100

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Chapter Fourteen

@WinterVines@Alaskapigeon

Chapter Fifteen: Getting Down and Dirty in the Dirt

A quick spray of Potions, a brisk check of injuries and a fast run through of moves learnt, with a bit of a surprise, Alaska, Paige and Darwin headed towards Pewter Gym.

Determination burned through Alaska as she walked towards the rock shaped building. After just escaping death so narrowly, and for the second time in a rather short space of days, she was ready to take on Brock. She wanted to show that she had the skills and power to win in battle, and had a perfect strategy in place, based on what she knew about Brock and his Pokemon. Alaska didn't quite know his style, but with her own unique spin, she would easily be able to defeat him.

"Are you two ready?" She asked Paige and Darwin, who were once again on her shoulders. The new and proud Pidgeotto gave a smile and a nod, while Darwin simply glared towards the gym, a steely look in his eyes. "That's a yes in my books. Let's go in and win this first badge!" Alaska took a deep breath, steadying and readying herself, and quickly cleared her mind of all questions about the mysterious Gideon and what had just happened. She took a step forwards, and the doors parted open.

"Back again, I see? Nice to see the sand didn't have too much of an effect on you," the robotic, disembodied voice chortled, causing Alaska to come to a halt. She glanced around again, and Paige and Darwin stared around in confusion, but Alaska decided to ignore it for now and walked determinedly forwards, taking extra care to avoid the quicksand all around her. The lights were out again, but as Alaska thought of something witty to throw in Brock's face, she began to hear a very familiar voice.

"I don't know if he escaped or not, but I imagine with the things he built he would have found a way," Mark Hansom was saying in the darkness. "I am going to contact all the necessary people as soon as I leave here, but just be on the lookout if you see him around, alright?"

"I will call you straight away, but I think we have the person here to answer all your questions," Brock said calmly, and the lights suddenly turned on. Darwin leapt onto the nearest rock as Brock and Mark suddenly appeared: Brock seemed rather calm, but Mark's handsome face appeared stressed as he turned towards Alaska in shock.

"Alaska, how are you, are you alright?" He exclaimed, rushing across the sandy field towards her.

"I'm fine!" Alaska said, ignoring him and staring back towards Brock, who raised an eyebrow at her stare. "I am fine to battle, and I am ready to battle!"

"I can see that," Brock said with a nod. "I notice you know have a Pidgeotto… better than a Pidgey, yes, but not all that better in the long run." His calm but arrogant demeanour was annoying Alaska, and she wanted to shove Mark aside and send Darwin hurtling towards him.

"Alaska, I need to know: did you manage to defeat Gideon?" Mark asked quickly. "I know you want to battle, but I saw the explosion and I must know!" Alaska sighed and figured it was best to answer, just so she could start her fight.

"He teleported away using this watch device," Alaska explained. "He said he knew another place to get the technology, so he must be going there or Mt Moon to get the fossils next." Than Alaska remembered some of the things he had said beforehand that were making her feel slightly worried. "He also said I was involved in a game now, and that I had to be prepared for the consequences of my actions." Mark nodded along to what she said, and tried to look calm and not worried, but when Alaska mentioned another place to get the technology, Mark's eyes bulged open for just a second, enough time for Alaska to see that information frightened him.

"Alight, thank you Alaska! I am sorry for what you had to go through today, and I hope I can make it up for you at some point," Mark said, giving her a pat on the shoulder. For a moment, Alaska was tempted to ask for a kiss, but pushed the joking thought out of her head and began to get her mind back on the battle. "I hope you have a good battle! I need to head back to the museum and check the damage. Brock, make sure you stop by there later," and with a final wave, Mark quickly walked away from the battlefield. Alaska was glad that he was gone: it was now just her and Brock with the sandy, rock strewn field in between them.

"Are you sure you wish to go through with this?" Brock asked as he pulled out a PokeBall. Alaska simply smirked, and exchanged smiles with Paige and Darwin. She had travelled this far and gone through so much already: she wasn't turning back now.

"Bring it on, Rock Head," she called out, and Brock simply laughed.

"Alright then: it will be a two on two match, due to your lack of Pokemon. Let's just hope they are all you need. GO GEODUDE!" He yelled intensely, and the ball burst open: the familiar rock head with bulky arms formed on the field, and Alaska looked down as the Geodude seemed to glare at her rather than her Pokemon.

"Let me guess, this is the guy I hit with my brownies?" She asked and Brock nodded, causing Alaska to laugh. "Excellent, it's always fun to go against old enemies! Darwin, in you go!" The Mankey leapt skilfully forward, landing a few feet in front of Geodude, and the two's glaring eyes met. Alaska was annoyed at Brock's latest dig, and was determined to bring him down at any cost. There was a tense silence for a moment, the two trainers deciding their moves and working out a last minute strategy, but than the match began!

"Tackle to start with!" Brock commanded.

"Easy defeat! Beat him back with a Karate Chop!" Alaska yelled. Geogude came soaring forwards with a push of his hands against the ground, but Darwin was ready and quickly brought his right hand down on the Rock Pokemon before he could get far: the force was enough to send Geodude flying backwards, crashing through a rock and landing near Brock.

"Impressive, but not impressive enough!" Brock called out as Geodude leapt back up. "Rock Throw, now!" Alaska wanted to get Geodude out of the way without tiring Darwin out, and was hoping the Karate Chop would have done more damage.

"Alright Darwin, use Seismic Toss to send the rock backwards!" Alaska ordered.

"GEOOOO!" Geodude yelled, grabbing a large piece of rock that had broken off from his crashing. He raised it above his head and tossed it with all his might. It hurtled through the air like a meteor, but Darwin had his legs bent and was ready for action.

"MAN MAN!" He screamed and jumped up to grab the rock, than using the momentum to do a spin in mid air. Brock simply gasped as Darwin spun around before finally letting go, sending the rock flying back towards Geodude, who was unable to dodge in time: the rock shattered across his face, turning into little bits of stone and dust.

"Excellent!" Alaska cried out in delight, and Paige clapped her wings next to her. "Now get over there and use Seismic Toss on Geodude before he can pull himself together!" Darwin nodded and bounded forwards, leaping off the rocks and soaring through the air like the monkey he was, leaving a worried look on Brock's face.

"Use Mega Punch to blast him backwards!" He ordered. Geodude was dizzy from being hit by the rock, but wiped his face clear and looked towards the leaping Mankey that was coming his way. He raised a rocky left hand that he made into a fist, and began to glow a dazzling white. Alaska knew that a direct hit, even though it was a Normal move, could still badly weaken Darwin, who was gathering speed the further he leapt forwards. An idea quickly formed in her head, and Alaska hoped she could pull it off.

"Darwin, leap up and use your tail to wrap around his other hand, and than use that for Seismic Toss!" Alaska ordered. Darwin gave her the thumbs up and leapt further into the sky as Geodude sent himself flying forwards. Darwin managed to pass just overhead, the glowing fist missing him by inches, and than let his tail wrap around the free hand. Geodude and Brock both looked shocked as Darwin pulled Geodude down and landed on his hands, keeping his tail high. Alaska and Paige began to laugh as his tail spun around like helicopter propellers, turning Geodude into a giant grey blur.

"KEY MAN!" Darwin screamed, and Alaska stopped laughing as she saw him let go: Geodude was now hurtling towards her at the speed of a racing car. She screamed and bent backwards, Geodude hurtling so close to her body that she could feel his flailing limbs whack against her. Alaska fell to the ground in shock, and watched upside down as Geodude smashed into the walkway, sending more rocks flying up into the air, before coming to a stop. There was silence for a moment, and Alaska knew everyone was watching Geodude, waiting for any signs of life, but he simply lay there, as still as, well, a pile of rocks.

"YES!" Alaska screamed, punching the air as she leapt up. Brock looked annoyed as he brought Geodude back, but Alaska gave Paige a quick hug and Darwin the thumbs up, who was bouncing around happily at his win.

"Nice work," Brock called out as he replaced Geodude's PokeBall for his second. "An interesting use of strategy, I am quite impressed by your skill. But now let's see how you handle my second choice!"

"Don't worry, I'm ready!" Alaska called back, feeling more confident now after that successful onslaught of attacks that left Darwin unscathed and fit enough to fight. Brock simply smiled, and he threw his second PokeBall into the air. Alaska expected it to land, but it simply hovered there as it burst open. However, she was left gasping as the energy poured headed towards the ground but also remained in mid air, as if a miniature skyscraper had just been created. The light faded, leaving what frankly looked like a giant pile of rocks piled on top of each other, getting bigger as they went up, and the top one had a jagged mouth, giant white eyes and a bit jutting out.

"ONIIIIIIIIX!" The Rock Snake Pokemon yelled down at Alaska and her team. She had heard from other people and online that Brock usually used an Onix, but the real thing was much more intimidating than Alaska had expected: he looked extremely hard and the height didn't help, nor the rough face glaring and roaring down at them. Compared to this thing, Darwin was a toddler trying to pick a fight with its local playground, and would inevitably end up losing.

"We need to do our best Darwin!" Alaska called out, and her Mankey nodded, though, like her, their confidence was draining away.

"You'll have to fight your toughest to defeat Onix!" Brock called out, sounding more gleeful, though Onix's huge body was blocking the gym leader's face off. Alaska wanted to glare at him, to shout that they would fight into the bitter end, but she needed to keep her cool if she wanted to be in control, and thought of which move to use first.

"DIG!" Brock yelled, and Alaska cursed: if she didn't move fast, she would miss this crucial turn.

"Seismic Toss!" She yelled. Darwin ran forwards, ready to grab onto the very tip of Onix's tail to throw him across the gym, but as he got near, Onix suddenly curved up before diving down with a roar.

"Pidgey!" Pidgeotto squealed as dirt was sent flying by Onix's Dig, his head managing to create a large hole in the middle of the field. Darwin was sent flying by the swinging tail, causing the Mankey to whack against a rock and slump down.

"Get up Darwin, Onix could come back at any moment!" Alaska screamed as the ground shook from the creature rumbling beneath them, the original hole already being refilled from the ground Onix was channelling through flying up and grouping back together. "When Onix comes back up, jump and use Karate Chop to blast him backwards!"

"Man!" Darwin replied, and Alaska smiled too him, but she knew this attack would be a long shot. Dig was a major disadvantage to Darwin, and she just hoped he could pull through. The ground began to rumble even more, and Darwin quickly bent his legs, ready to leap at a moments notice. The ground beneath him cracked, and Darwin went to jump, Alaska crossing her fingers, but the large grey head came roaring out too quickly: Darwin yelled out as he was sent flying upwards, and than struck again as Onix emerged smoothly out of the ground.

"No!" Alaska gasped, watching as Darwin spun helplessly through the air. She looked down and saw Brock was now smirking across at her, glad to have the ball back in his field.

"End this with a Tackle!" He commanded, and Onix responded quickly. Alaska tried to give an order, but Onix simply raised his head as high as possible and brought it down on Darwin. He came soaring back to the ground and struck the field with a surprisingly loud thump. Sand rose up into the air for a few seconds, masking his fate, but Alaska knew what it would be. She sadly pulled her PokeBall out, and looked down at Darwin's unconscious body, mad at herself for letting him down: he stood a great chance at this gym, and Alaska hadn't been able to get him through.

"You did your best, thank you," she said to Darwin as he turned to energy and came back. Alaska took a deep breath in, telling herself not to lose hope: they were both even now, there was still a chance. "Ready Paige?"

"Pidgeotto Gee!" Paige said with a nod, and flapped her wings and took off. Alaska thought she might have gotten scared off by Onix, and could see nervousness in her eyes, but was glad her old friend was giving it a shot.

"Flying types regularly fail here, no matter what strategy you have," Brock called out. "Dig may be useless, but I still have some other tricks in my arsenal!"

"We have our own tricks, so we'll just have to see who is the trickiest, won't we?" Alaska said, and then cursed at how stupid her pun had been. But Brock simply laughed, and looked up towards Paige with his smirk. The Pidgeotto was glaring off at Onix, and Alaska knew her temper would help pull through.

"Rock Slide!" Brock exclaimed, and Alaska swore loudly enough for him to smirk once more, but she knew this move was highly powerful and would be tricky to avoid: Onix was smashing the ground with his tail already, causing the larger rock formations to glow brown, sending bits flying into the sky.

"Dodge them and Steel Wing him in the middle!" Alaska cried. Paige nodded down at her, but Alaska could see she looked rather nervous. The rocks were rising up above her, and Paige quickly flapped her wings, turning them into a shining silver. She began to fly as the rocks began to fall, and Alaska watched intently and in fright as Paige did some amazing aerial turns to avoid being flattened against the ground. Several clipped her wings and one whacked against her talons, but Paige kept flying forwards.

"OOONNNN!" Onix roared as Paige approached, and he swerved his body. Paige managed to hit him, but in the middle like Alaska hoped: the last minute swerve caused Paige to crash into his upper body, tipping Onix backwards but he was easily able to correct himself. Paige soared high above, and Alaska laughed to see how she was taunting him, the Rock Snake unable to extend his body high enough.

"Nice little trick there," Brock said, "but let's see how you like Onix's Bind!"

"You can't reach Paige from up there!" Alaska snapped back. "Fire a Gust and blow this competition away!"

"That's what you think," Brock called out, and Alaska looked at Onix, taken aback by his words. She didn't think it would be possible, but she watched in shock as Onix coiled his body up like a gigantic rock spring, and suddenly launched himself upwards.

"Pidge Pidgey Otto Pidge!" Pidgeotto squealed, flapping her wings in a frantic manner, managing to unleash some wind, but to Alaska it looked as if Pidgeotto was merely trying to shoo Onix away from her.

"Fly away!" Alaska screamed, but it was too late: Onix did a magnificent coiling motion, like he was a giant rocky ribbon that Brock was twirling through the air, and wrapped tightly around Paige's lower body. Her wings were free but Paige was unable to move, being carried back down to the field by Onix and his weight, the tip of his tail stopping them from crash landing.

"PIDGEEEEE!" She screamed, trying to pull free, but Onix simply held on tighter now he was back on the ground. Alaska watched her flailing and squirming, wondering how long Onix would be able to hang on for: if he kept her in his clutches, than the battle could easily be over soon. There was only one move that could work, and that was a new move Paige had learnt in her evolution. Alaska had wanted to test it out, but her desire to defeat Brock distracted her, but if Paige could pull it off now, the win was hers.

"Tight spot you're in," Brock called out, still smirking. "Not many Pokemon are able to win after Onix gets them in their holds! It would be very hard to dodge a Rock Slide now, wouldn't it?"

"Oh shut it!" Alaska snapped, tempted to pull the brownies out and give him a good thrashing, but Onix was already acting, thrashing his tail. Paige had stopped fighting, simply staring towards the raising rocks with a worried look in her eye, and than staring at Alaska with pitiful eyes, almost as if she was apologising. Alaska couldn't let either of them give up yet, and knew they had to try the move.

"TWISTER, NOW!" Alaska screamed. It was an almost perfect move for the Bind: Onix wrapped so tightly around her, the Twister would be able to cause maximum damage. Brock did look a little scared as Paige wiggled and turned her body as much as she could, flapping her wings and trying to generate enough power. The rocks were getting higher though, and Alaska had her fingers crossed, watching as purple energy was beginning to swirl around. Paige's feet were wriggling, and her body was beginning to twist more, just as the rocks began to fall… more energy was forming and spiralling… Alaska and Brock both watched nervously, the outcome surely to affect the battle…

"PIIIDDDGEEEEEEE!" Paige screamed, and broke free in the nick of time. A giant purple Twister erupted around her, blasting through the rocks like a fabulous little piece of convenience. Brock cursed as Alaska cheered, and the spiralling Twister began to send Onix spinning. He seemed too stunned to make any noise, simply rotating around, unable to pull away as sand and loose rocks were sent flying around the gym. After a few moments Paige came to a stop, and Onix fell straightened out and looking rather surprised against the ground.

"Pidgey Pidge!" Paige called out, still spinning slightly from the attack, and Alaska hoped she wasn't confused. She looked down at Onix and saw his eyes were spinning: at least he was confused as well.

"Get a grip and use Tackle!" Brock ordered, his smirk disappearing as he realised the threat that Alaska and Paige could pose, and Alaska beamed widely: they stood a shot.

"Quick Attack and hit him in the eye, than fly around the gym!" She called out. Paige stopped spinning stupidly and nodded, moving forwards like a bullet, the glowing energy wrapping around her. The speedy attack hit Onix directly in his spinning eyes, and he roared loudly and reared upwards, his right eye now firmly shut and the roar causing the entire building to shake.

"You still have one eye!" Brock cried out almost desperately, but as Onix tried to stare around with his left, Paige was too busy darting high above Onix, moving from corner to corner too quickly to manage. She suddenly dived down towards a rock, and Onix quickly bounded forwards, only to fall into Paige's trick. A large rock formation was shattered, and Brock cursed again as Paige soared high above.

"ROCK SLIDE!" Brock bellowed in his desperation.

"Steel Wing, finish this now!" Alaska yelled out. Onix tried to move, but Paige was too close and too fast: Alaska and Brock both watched in shock (happy and angry shock respectively) as the glowing wings smashed into Onix's middle. He let out a furious but weak roar as he rolled over, his tail coming close to hitting Alaska, before collapsing into the sand. Paige landed on a rock in front of Alaska, and the two stared simultaneously at Onix, before looking back towards each other, their smiles unmistakable, their happiness unable to be hidden as they realised what had just been accomplished…


I decided to save Alaska's reaction for her blog, which is coming up next, as that would probably get her emotions across better. There will still be plenty of witty jives taken at Brock though, so don't worry Expect that part in about a fortnight.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Chapter Fifteen

@WinterVines @Alaskapigeon

Blog Four: Celebrate the Good Times
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!

I did it everyone, I finally did it! THE BOULDER BADGE IS ALL MIIIIIIIIIIIINE! MWAHAHA, I’M NOW ONE STEP CLOSER TO WORLD DOMINATION – I mean, getting to the Indigo League… of course that’s what I meant!

Al crazy capslocking aside, I did manage to win my first Kanto gym badge, and I couldn’t be happier! Not only did I manage to defeat both of Brock’s Pokemon (a Geodude who doesn’t like my families baking and an Onix, a Pokemon that is frankly a very dirty innuendo in my mind), but PAIGE, the NORMAL FLYING type, managed to win it for me! I should probably mention the fact she evolved – Paige evolved to Pidgeotto

It was a breath taking battle. Darwin squared off against Geodude, and was able to use all that Mankeying around he does to his advantage and hopped around like his feet were springs, dodging practically every move and getting some powerful hits in. Unfortunately for him, Onix proved too strong and Darwin came crashing down. My only hope left was my feathery new Pidgeotto, and Paige proved herself well: she struggled a bit at first, but used her Steel Wing with excellent precision and execution and her new Twister move to perfection to secure us a win, and I couldn’t be prouder or her or Darwin: they both did such an amazing job that I think I’ll give them some of my brownies as a treat – Oh, they don’t look too happy at that idea. I’ll find something at the bottom of my bag they can eat….

But the best part would have to be the look on Brock’s face when I won. He had being all arrogant about the fact I only had two Pokemon and one of them was a Flying type, and acted as if he was the flashest thing since sliced bread. Well, I must see that added to my joy when Onix fell down in defeat, and Brock looked as if he had just been slapped in the face. He tried to keep all calm and sensible when he handed over the badge and the TM, and I simply smiled and showed him my most courteous side – I think that would have pissed him off more than a comeback, as I think he wanted a chance to get a comeback in. But I’m not just a one trick pony, my glorious readers – I’m a two trick pony, and keep that in mind. I’m sure Brock was when I left the building, as he seemed to be glaring at me when I left. Well, I think he was glaring. His eyelids never seem to move that much… maybe if he had them open more often, he might actually win occasionally – OOOH, BURN, THAT’S RIGHT, I WENT THERE! (Damn… my rapper personality keeps lingering…)

But though this day was full of highs, there had to be some sort of low.

You have probably all heard about the incident at the museum – some guy held some people hostage and detonated a bomb. Thankfully, no one was killed – thanks to me, I say boastfully (but seriously, someone send me a hero sandwich.) But I did have to face of against this completely insane guy called Gideon, who wanted to steal some machines and the fossils. He was obviously off his nutter, possibly on drugs or something, and I wasn’t going to think much about things until he brought his bomb out. I didn’t think until then that this guy was a real threat, but hearing him speak and the fact he had a deadly weapon… it was seriously freaky. Than Gideon sort of hissed at me that I was involved a game now and that I should be prepared for the consequences of today’s actions.

I didn’t stay to linger back there, due to the very large threat of the bomb and the very large thought in my mind that I should be getting the hell out of there, but after I defeated Brock and did my victory dance of delight outside, I began to think about things. Is this incident involved with the robotic Beedrill back in Viridian Forest? I think Gideon was a scientist, so perhaps he is trying to create a huge army of PokeBots… I really don’t know! I just know that things aren’t all that they seem in Kanto at the moment: one or possibly two or possibly more things are going down, the likes we haven’t seen since Team Rocket. I’m going to be on the lookout for any more dodgy going on’s, but if any of you see anything, make sure to let me know!

So when you are off at the local bar, park, milkshake bar, wherever you crazy kids hang out these days, and are celebrating my fantastic win, make sure you are on the lookout for a giant Robo-Golem terrorizing your neighbourhood and scaring your grandma’s. I think I saw those reality stars lingering around, so I’m going to get out of Pewter before their filth and annoyingness poisons the local water supply, just like all reality star’s do. I’ll let you all know how I get on in Mt Moon (hopefully sans-terrorist drama) and will be back with more excitement!

Until next time my dearest, darlingest readers!

Alaska Acevedo, Slayer of Rock Snakes

(P.S. Take my experience as a warning: never go to museums! You may not die from an explosion, but if Gideon hadn’t shown up, I’m sure I would have died of boredom. The only highlight was this sexy guy I met: I don’t usually fall for guys like this, but DAAAAAMN (sorry, gangsta personality again) this guy was smokin’ hot! I know understand why my mother watches all this romantic comedies, as men are pretty sexy beasts. This guy is definitely the hottest I’ve seen so far on my journey, not that he has any competition (that means YOU MR SQUINTY!). Well… no competition, really, but that’s a story for another time, such as when I’m asleep. STOP PRYING INTO MY PRIVATE LIVES! *glares at you all*)

P.P.S: Write shorter P.S’ next time, because my fingers are bloody sore! I need gloves, or lotion…

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Blog Four

Im glad you enjoyed the humour of that part: it takes a while to try and think of some good jokes that Alaska would say, as well as trying to further the plot and get her emotions across.

@WinterVines @Alaskapigeon

Interlude Three: Thoughts of a Champion

As Red stared at the television, he reminded himself that there was a reason he had stopped watching the news.

He was sitting alone in the bottom floor of the Champion’s House, a four storey building built into the mountains that surrounded the Indigo Plateau. It was regularly refurbished as part of the league’s way of satisfying its champion, and Red currently rested upon one of three identical black leather couches, his attention focused upon a plasma television that was the same height as him. A very flash, very metallic kitchen rested behind him, and an oak dining table, several extremely cluttered desks, a Pinball machine and floor to ceiling glass doors that lead outside were all placed behind him. It was a very nice house, much nicer than anything Red had ever stayed in before, but he quickly got bored with the things down here and spent most of the time he wasn’t battling or travelling on promotional tours training with his Pokemon in an expansive training facility upstairs, the only place were he truly felt himself.

But for now, the television screen was finally giving him something worth watching, even if he didn’t want to know about it.

The reporter, a man in a crisp suit, was standing outside of the Pewter City Museum, discussing how a mad man with a gun had threatened to shoot several people, including Red’s friend Mark Hansom, and was apparently looking for technology and several fossils. It cut to shoots taken on a tourist’s video camera that had been playing when a bomb exploded, causing everyone to panic, an image of something large falling from the blast. It then cut to footage of the fossil display, the reporter explaining how a young girl had fought off the man but prevented him from planting a bomb. Red watched as the camera showed large holes in the walls and floor, the remainder burnt black. The displays lay in ruins on the floor, with several police officers taking pictures of them before the museum staff could move them away.

“This has been a terrible tragedy, especially after all the hard work we had put into finding these fossils,” Mark was telling the reporter, his usual handsome features dishevelled.

“What about these rumours of a teenage girl fighting off this man?” The reporter asked, but Mark simply shook his head in response.

“I refuse to confirm or deny anything of that nature,” Mark replied, and the image cut back to the reporter outside the museum, giving the latest details to the newsreader back home. Red listened to these facts, but nothing of interest came through, and he simply sighed and turned the television off, leaning back into the couch and groaning.

“Three years… this was all meant to be over!” He groaned, and angrily lashed out at the table in front of him. Several magazines Leaf had left out with him on the cover fell to the floor, and Red was tempted to tear them in two, but knew his girlfriend wouldn’t appreciate that much. He wondered where she was at this moment, wheter she and Janine were watching the news together and how they would react to the news that peace was once again slipping away.

Red leapt to his feet, knowing that he had to do something. Rumours of plots and plans had been revolving around for months, ever since that reality show had been announced. Red hadn’t liked the sound of it, but the league officials had approved it without his consideration, thinking it would be good publicity. Then there had been whispers of disturbances around Chrono Island over the past few days, and the incident with the robotic Beedrill had sent alarm bells ringing, but the Champion hadn’t done anything about it yet. It was his job to help protect Kanto against all threats, and it was time he put things into action.

Playing the hero now, are we? A voice laughed from the corner as Red reached across for a remote. He rolled his eyes as he pressed a button, turning the television screen into computer mode.

“I don’t have time for your views at the moment,” Red called out as he walked up to the computer and brought up a series of files: documents, a special version of the PC Storage System, e-mail and a webcam application. His Lapras smiled as she propelled herself forwards with her flippers, a thin layer of ice forming on the carpet.

What exactly are you planning on doing? She asked. I know you think Gideon is involved, but has Mark contacted you yet? Racing off into battle could prove dangerous – you should take slow steps.

“I would agree with you if I wasn’t already running behind,” Red replied. He was already opening all files in the system about Gideon, and was checking his emails for any contact, but it seemed Mark was too busy sorting things out in his court to contact Red. “The girl can’t get caught in whatever is going on. We must make sure she gets the proper protection,” Red explained, and Lapras simply nodded as she came up alongside.

If your going to protect her, there’s only one route you can go down, She said, and Red sighed and nodded in response. He pulled up the log PC Box and moved it across to the right section, which showed only two Pokemon were located here. Red pressed a button, causing a box to pop up and he typed in several passwords as a laser overhead scanned down his body. The screen shuddered slightly, and suddenly an Ultra and a Master Ball appeared in a slot to the side. Red reached forwards and picked the two containers up, staring down at them as his fingers hovered over the buttons.

You need to do it, Lapras thought. They won’t get captured this time. The girl needs protection. Red simply nodded, still shaking slightly as he threw the balls to a clear space. Light lit up the dark room, and Red and Lapras simply watched as the magnificent ice bird Articuno and the soulful water beast Suicune formed in front of them, sparkles emitting from their legendary bodies. Articuno stretched her wings out to full height and Suicune shook back his long mane, staring around the flash building. Red smiled warmly at them, realising how long a time it had been since he had trusted himself to send them out again. But he slowly walked back to the screen and touched another file, causing an email he had received earlier in the day to appear. It was a security image, showing a girl in jeans and a red shirt, a wide smile on her face as she departed Pewter Gym with a Pidgeotto, no idea of the danger she’d put herself in.

Her name was Alaska Acevedo.

“This girl needs your protection,” Red told to his two legendary Pokemon, and they both nodded. “Find her and watch her from a far. Make sure no one harmful gets near her, and do your best not to lose her: she could be the key to stopping what’s about to happen in Kanto, and I know several people would gladly have her suffer an accident.” Articuno and Suicune nodded, and turned around without another remark. Red knew they were a bit grumpy about being left in their PokeBalls, and hoped they would be able to forgive him after this.
Lapras’ eyes flashed pink, and the doors magically opened. Suicune sprinted off and leapt off the balcony, whilst Articuno took a running start before taking off into the sky. Red and Lapras moved onto the deck that went around the entire bottom floor, watching as Articuno flew off into the sunset and Suicune ran swiftly down the mountainside. From up here, Red could see the borders of Johto to one end, with wide oceans in between, Cinnabar Island far in the distance, all the way across to Viridian and Vermillion Cities. The view was spectacular, with the golden and pink sunset casting beautiful light across the regions, but Red knew that in a few weeks, it could all be ruined.

Do you think this girl will be able to stop them? Lapras asked. Red stared towards the stadium, the very stadium he had defended himself for so many years, and the surrounding area that had nearly been destroyed.

“I can only hope so. She’s the only damn hope we have,” he sighed, and walked back into his living area, needing to contact Leaf, Professor Oak and Mark Hansom, and whoever else could help. He needed all possible help: if the rumours were true, he was going to be dead in only a few weeks.


Panic echoed around the Dragon’s Den.

None of the people that lived and worked here had ever seen something like this before, not in many years. The many robed people, wearing different colours depending on their ranks and jobs, were fleeing back into their makeshift wooden houses scattered across the rocky area, many people screaming or gathering together children or bundles, not wanting to leave anything behind. They continued to stare back towards the source of their fright: blue lightning bolts exploding out of the house where Clair, the Dragon Elder and elite members slept. The bolts were shooting across the entire den, causing the stalactites on the roof to shudder and shake, and the Dratini, Horsea, Dragonair and Seadra that lived in the blue crystal lake to hide under rocks and in caves. It was like a fireworks display gone wrong, and people could only wonder what was causing it.

Inside the giant central house, things were a lot worse.

Clair, the Blackthorn City Gym Leader, marched determinedly through the many hallways, pushing past people in magnificent purple robes that were fleeing from the central room. The entire building was shaking, but Clair didn’t care about the building that she had lived in for her entire life: she knew what was causing this, and it had to stop before it got out of hand.

“Clair, what’s going on?” A voice whined behind her, but Clair simply waved a hand at her nephew Kieran as she turned a corner, finding the corridor into the central room, where all important meetings and ceremonies took place, crowded.

“Out of my way!” Clair shouted, and people parted as she continued to march through. The heavy wooden doors were closed, but the blue lightning was glowing through and threatening to blast them down. “Spike, what’s going on?” A black haired teenager, aged 18, appeared at her side, his spiky hair clashing horribly with his purple robes, but he had long stopped caring about this and stared at Clair with a grim look. “Is the Elder in there?” Spike looked a bit awkward, and Clair began to seize up, giving him a look that resembled that of her Salamance.

“Yes… there was a blue flash and the doors suddenly closed, and it’s been shaking ever since,” Spike explained. “We’ve tried opening, but it doesn’t seem to be working. “

“You just need to try harder!” Clair roared, and she threw a PokeBall onto the ground. People cleared out of the way as her Dragonite formed, staring between Clair and the shaking doors with an anxious look. “HYPER BEAM, NOW!” Clair screamed, unable to contain herself any longer. Spike gasped, but stepped backwards as Dragonite instantly obeyed his trainer, the energy quickly forming in his mouth. The magnificent doors, many designs of Dragon Pokemon etched into the wood, had been standing for hundreds of years, but it took Dragonite only one second to blast them backwards. The wood moved inwards with the force of the attack, but the blue lightning sent them straight backwards, causing everyone to scream and dodge, the wood tearing straight through the opposite wall. Clair ignored the damage, and peered into the central room, ignoring the lightning flying through, and stared in with horror.

The entire room was glowing blue, lightning bolts emitting from the very center and flying around. All lights had smashed and candles extinguished, the mural on the wall was being burnt, and all the cushions had exploded into bundles of feathers. The only human in there was a short elderly man, lying face down on the floor, not appearing to move. The only other figure was the creature causing all of this, who floated in the middle of the room, glowing a violent blue and staring around peacefully, unaware of the damage he was causing.

“Latios!” Clair gasped, grasping onto the doorway and edging herself forwards. The Eon Pokemon turned towards her and seemed to float backwards, almost in fright. “Latios, you have been dormant for four years, why do you awaken now? Why are you causing this destruction to our home?” Latios stared back at her, still floating towards the glassless windows, apparently in confusion.

I appreciate your hospitality, He said inside all of their heads, and Clair and Spike both screamed, collapsing to the ground and clutching their ears, however, I must go now. I need to find my true master, a master I should have found a long time ago. Please make sure the Crystal gets to them… thank you. Without another word, Latios turned and headed through the windows, taking all of the lightning with them. Clair looked up, the pain in her head lessening, and could see a blue blur heading towards the only entrance and exit, flying away to another life. She leant against the frame in shock, unable to take any of it in. All of these years they had spent caring for Latios’ Enigma Crystal, all of this spent to make sure it remained safe… all worthless.

“Clair…,” a weak voice sounded, and Clair turned around in shock, towards the man lying on the floor.

“Grandfather!” She gasped and rushed forwards, Spike and Dragonite at her heels as always. The Dragon Elder had been growing older and weaker over the past few months, the strength he had once had slowly slipping away. As he lay there, slowly turning painfully onto his back, Clair could see it in his sunken, shaking face that he wasn’t going to pull through this.

“Grandfather, are there any potions we can use, any remedies?” The gym leader asked as tears began to form in her eyes, clutching her grandfather’s hands. The Elder simply smiled up at her and gripped back onto her hands.

“It seems it is my time to go, just like it was Latios’,” the old man said, and Clair held on tightly, shaking her head as the tears began to stream. “Clair, you must keep the Dragon’s Den alive. It needs someone like you to run it, and you’re our only hope. But most importantly, you must make sure Latios is not harmed. He may have led to my death coming only a few weeks, possibly even a few days or hours early, but his destined trainer needs him…” The Elder collapsed backwards onto the floor, his grip loosening off Clair’s hands, and the gym leader began to sob as he she continued to hold her grandfather’s dead hands. Spike simply turned around in respect to give her privacy, while her Dragonite bent down and gave his trainer a hug. Something glittered slightly on the floor, and Spike bent down to pick up the object lying on the carpet: a beautiful stone, coloured almost silver with a glowing blue crystal enclosed in the middle. There appeared to be a crack running through it, and Spike had seen the sister of this Enigma Crystal and knew the crack wasn’t an identical thing.

Whoever Latios’ destined trainer was, the Eon Pokemon seemed very eager to get to them, and Spike had been involved in these things long enough to know that wasn’t good news.


For those who are a bit confused: Clair, Spike and the all things Dragon's Den can be seen in Kris vs Gold, and Red and his Lapras can be found in Red vs Leaf on FF.net, though that story is being rewritten into The First Warriors very soon.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Interlude Three

@WinterVines @Alaskapigeon

Chapter Sixteen: This Place Needs a Sweep

"So…. This is Mt Moon... boooooriiiing."

Alaska giggled to herself as her voice echoed around the cavern, but as that faded away, she was left standing alone in the semi darkness, staring around at what she could see of Mt Moon, and was highly unimpressed.

It had been two days since winning the Boulder Badge and leaving Pewter City. Alaska had quickly been in a high over her win, and was tempted to find the reality stars and rub her win in their faces, possibly getting Paige to re-enact hitting Onix in the eye with Chloe. However, after moving along Route 3, Alaska began to feel her spirits lessen. Yes, she was extremely glad to have proved herself and won the first badge, but there were still seven more badges to collect: Cascade, Thunder, Rainbow, Soul, Marsh, Volcano and Earth . Completing this task wasn't going to be easy, and Alaska needed to train harder, get some more Pokemon and do her best to keep her goal going, rather than build up from one relatively easy win and expect the other leaders to fall at her feet.

However, Alaska had at least hoped for something a bit more interesting than this.

Mt Moon looked extraordinary from the outside: a tall, beautiful peak that was about the size of a six storey office building. It's brown rock with foliage dotted around made for a picturesque setting, but it was simply a mask over what the inside held.

Alaska had heard that half of the mountain had caved in back in 2008 due to an incident involving Team Rocket, but she had hoped that things would be fixed by then. Instead lamps were positioned around, casting dim yellow light over signs reading "WARNING: ROCKS FALL WITHOUT WARNING" and "STAY TO THE DESIGNATED PATH", with an arrow pointed towards a path formed by wooden barriers leading past the fallen rocks. Mot of the rocks had been cleared away, but still huge piles of the stuff formed threatening figures all around the area, and half of the cave was still inaccessible. The strict path would take Alaska away from exploring any part of the mountain, and, more importantly, removed a chance of catching any more Pokemon.

"I doubt there are even any more rocks to fall," Alaska grumbled as she stepped gingerly forwards, peering upwards as far as she could with the dim light at her disposal. "What sort of rock takes five years to fall down!" As she spoke, there was a crunching sound, and Alaska had only a second to move before a stalactite crashed into the spot where she had just been standing, the pointed rock shattered to rubble. "Alright… I guess that one then…," Alaska muttered, clutching her heart. She stared back towards the white and red striped safety barriers marking out the safest route, and suddenly found it looking a lot more attractive.

"I can always catch a Pokemon on Route 4. I doubt any of the Pokemon in here would be good for the Cerulean Gym anyway," Alaska reassured herself, and began heading down the barriers. Alaska may do stupid things and break the rules from time to time, but she wasn't going to walk through an unstable environment and risk getting her head crushed by a falling rock.

"Chloe could walk through here with peace of mind, I doubt falling rocks would do anything to her," Alaska said aloud, and begin to laugh to herself as she headed towards a carved tunnel. Her laughter echoed around once more, and Alaska realised that if someone else was in this mountain, they would definitely be making noise. "HELLOOOO, IS ANYONE THERE!" She called out, and listened as her voice echoed in the silence. Alaska laughed and leaned against the barriers, thinking she could have a bit of fun with this. "My name is AH-LASS-KAH AC-AH-VE-DOH!" She shouted, and heard the mountain send it straight back to her. "This mountain isn't very interesting! Hmmm… I need something funny… oooh! LIVE FROM VIRIDIAN CITY, IT'S SATURDAY –"

"AAAAAAAHHH!"
The scream was louder than anything Alaska had heard, and she turned around to try and find the source of the noise. The scream sounded again and again, and Alaska quickly realised it was coming from behind the piles of rubble in front of her. A roar sounded up from behind them, followed by a crash that caused dust to trickle down from the ceiling.

"Oh shit," Alaska said, and quickly leapt over the barriers. More dust trickled down, and another series of rocks smashed into the ground only a few metres away. Alaska looked upwards, knowing it was extremely dangerous to go charging into something dangerous in such a dangerous environment, but as the scream sounded again, she knew she had to help. Scrambling up the miniature mountain of rocks, which slipped away beneath her feet, Alaska pulled her PokeBalls out, ready to defend whoever was screaming. But as she reached the top, small cuts on her hands and a tear in her jeans, Alaska wasn't expecting what she saw.

An Onix was staring directly at her.

Now, Alaska had never seen Onix as being particularly frightening Pokemon. She had always seen it as a moving pile of rocks that wouldn't do much harm to a girl, and she had always viewed it as a bit of a challenge as a child to try and scale its rocky surface. And after defeating Brock's Onix, Alaska didn't think that one would ever cause her to become frightened.

However, this one was not an ordinary Onix. As it moved backwards, leering down at her, Alaska saw that its head was nearly touching the cave roof, yet half of its body was still touching the ground. This was an Onix supersized: its body was the width of three skyscrapers and the length of two piled on top of each other, with a face so big you could probably land an airplane on their. Alaska looked down at her two PokeBalls and knew that this Onix could probably gobble them up without even having to open its enormous mouth fully. The Rock Snake sneered down at Alaska before letting out another roar, which was much more powerful up close, and Alaska had to clung to a large boulder to stop herself flying backwards.

"I don't want to hurt you!" Alaska yelled, her heart racing. "I'll just go now, leave you to eat whoever that was screaming. Maybe it was your girlfriend or maybe your mother, forget to clean the dishes eh? Naughty boy… ha ha… whoever it is, I probably don't know them and it doesn't even matter!"

"Alaska? Is that Alaska? OI, ALASKA, HI!" A voice yelled out, and Alaska, who had been about to turn around and jump off the rubble, froze in her movements. She let out an angry sigh and glanced back around, wishing she could just ignore who it was and leave them to battle against this large freak of a Pokemon, but Alaska couldn't bring herself to do it and cursed her big heart and general kindness to those who helped her escape from gigantic robotic Pokemon.

"Hi Sandy," Alaska called, and tried to spot the blonde haired girl, but she was nowhere to be spotted. But than the Onix swivelled its body, and Alaska's jaw dropped as she finally spotted her: Sandy was sitting on Onix's body, waving brightly up at Alaska.

"What the hell are you doing there?"

"Battling of course, you big silly!" Sandy laughed. There was a fluttering nearby, and Alaska turned in time to see Butterfree flying past, diving straight towards Onix. It looked as if she was colliding with it, but Onix let out a sudden roar and tipped backwards, much to Alaska's surprise.

"Brilliant Bug Bite!" Sandy shouted, and Alaska was even more shocked: how was the bug move doing any harm to the Onix? "Confusion again, I think we nearly have it!" Butterfree nodded back, and Alaska could see her eyes light up across the dark cave. Onix let out another roar as his body quivered, and he suddenly began smashing his head into the wall.

"Frankly, I'm confused," Alaska grumbled, and went to sit down on the boulder to watch the proceedings. However, the rocks beneath her feet didn't seem willing to hold her up: she screamed as there was suddenly nothing beneath her feet, and Alaska began sliding down the hill of rocks, unable to stop herself. Her feet smashed into the solid ground, and Alaska flew upwards before sprawling forwards, her hands being scraped along the ground as she tried to save herself.

"Oh my goodness, are you alright?" Sandy screeched, and Alaska raised a bloody thumbs up to her and rolled onto her back, reflecting on how things could have gone much better if she had just walked through the tunnel rather than try to have a laugh. She looked up to see Onix was roaring right above her, and realised that a rock could very easily fall down and crush her and she wouldn't even bother moving.

"Move aside Butterfree, it is catching time!" Sandy shouted, and Alaska glanced around as a Great Ball soared through the air. There was no way such a tiny thing would be able to hold a beast as tall and wide as this, but Alaska watched as Onix's final roar was cut off, his body turning blue and being sucked inside. The Great Ball fell down, and Alaska realised too late it would land on her. It managed to wind her as it hit her stomach, and Alaska gasped for breath as it rolled on her stomach.

"OH MY GOD, I'M SO SORRY!" Sandy screeched, rushing forwards and grabbing the Great Ball as it clicked, signalling a successful capture. "I feel so terrible! You must have heard me scream and come to my rescue, didn't you? Oh, your such a good person, and I'm so awful, and –"

"Sandy, just shut up," Alaska groaned as she got to her feet, examining the blood oozing from her hands as she put them to her stomach. "It's not your fault, it's all mine for trying to play the hero. Next time I hear someone screaming, I'm just going to walk away and alert the police, cause frankly, I don't want to nearly get blown up or fall down any more rock hills again."

"Blown up?" Sandy asked curiously, but Alaska simply shook her head.

"Don't worry about it," she said, and put a smile on her face. "Congratulations on your capture, but what on earth gave you the urge to battle such a large Pokemon?" Sandy exchanged a sheepish look with Butterfree before looking back guiltily.

"Well, I didn't know it was an Onix…," she said, and Alaska let out another laugh that echoed around the chamber, realising she should have expected an answer like this. "I've just been travelling around for a few hours and felt like a rest, so I sat down on what I thought was some sort of designer bench! However, Onix then roared, I screamed and sent Butterfree out in an instant, and, well, it seemed like a good idea at the time to battle him, so Butterfree sent out a few Confusions and a Bug Bite. He may look tough, but I think he's just a bit of a baby at heart."

"Just what the world needs: a giant, immature Onix at your faithful hands," Alaska said with a smile, and Sandy and Butterfree both giggled. "Well, once again, good on you for capturing it! Now, I really need to focus on stopping this bleeding… you wouldn't happen to have any bandages, would you?"

"OH MY GOD, PRETTY!"

"I guess not then," Alaska sighed, but Sandy wasn't focusing, instead turning away from Alaska and focusing on something else. Alaska glanced around to see what it was: a trio of pink Clefairy, skipping off into the distance. "How cute. Now, about my hands…"

"I want one!" Sandy said, speaking more to Butterfree than Alaska.

"Free Free," Butterfree responded, staring pointedly at Alaska, but Sandy didn't pick up on the hint.

"Yes, of course their free," Sandy said, rolling her eyes. She replaced her new Great Ball with an empty one, and quickly ran after them. Butterfree gave Alaska an apologetic look, and she simply nodded, having expected this sort of airy behaviour from Sandy after their last meeting.

"We might as well make sure nothing happens to her," Alaska said, and she and Butterfree hurried after her. However, it took less than half a minute to catch up, as they found Sandy standing at a large hole, clearly some sort of entrance.

"They all ran up here," Sandy said, sounding disappointed, and Alaska and Butterfree stared up to see the hole lead to a large circular tunnel, moving upwards to a small amount of light in the distance. Sandy sighed, looking extremely dejected, and Alaska couldn't help but feel sorry for her, and mentally sighed as her voicebox acted before her brain did.

"Why don't we head up, see where they went to?" She suggested, and Sandy's face instantly lit up. Butterfree gave Alaska a look that she interpreted to be the bug version of saying 'Stuff you', but Alaska simply shrugged back as Sandy quickly dived in.

"Come on then, let's get going!" She called. Alaska sighed and nodded, and climbed in after Butterfree. Her stomach and hands still hurt, and her jeans were torn in several places and weren't particularly good for climbing, but Alaska simply decided to persevere, secretly interested to see what other Pokemon might be waiting at the end of the tunnel.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Chapter 16

@WinterVines @Alaskapigeon



Chapter Seventeen: Climbing the Ladder of Success, and Kicking Your Competition in the Face As You Do So

The tunnel was long and difficult to climb, especially if your hands had just been treated to a lovely hand scraping, and Alaska found herself struggling to climb up. It was getting increasingly steep, and Alaska didn't want to crawl with her injured hands, forcing her to try and walk up the increasing slope. She refused to look backwards, knowing that the long distance they had travelled would only cause unnecessary upset and worry about having yet another injury today.

"So Sandy, how have you been since we last met?" Alaska called out, trying to keep her focused. Sandy seemed very absorbed in her quest to find the Clefairy, her attention focused entirely forwards as she crawled along the ground, and it took three slaps by Butterfree's wings to remember there were other people in the tunnel.

"Oh, me? Nothing that exciting," Sandy replied with a shrug of her shoulders. "Did a bit of shopping, roamed around Viridian Forest and Pewter City, and then I arrived here last night. Floor was a bit bumpy, I wouldn't recommend sleeping on it."

"Didn't plan to," Alaska replied. "I managed to win a gym battle, which is always nice to get free jewellery, but before that a lovely man tried to blow me to bits, which is always a nice way to get rid of a cold." Sandy glanced around, looking a bit confused, and Alaska recounted what had happened at Pewter Museum as they continued to climb up the long, slowly lightening tunnel.

"Oh my goodness!" Sandy gasped, coming to a sudden pause that nearly caused Alaska to trip over her. "I can't believe you went through that! Maybe you're a bad luck charm, and madmen and robots are just going to keep killing you until one of them finally blows your brains out!" She continued, looking shocked, and Alaska simply gave her a bemused look.

"Yes, I'm sure that's what's going to happen to me," she said, nodding and smiling, and Sandy continued to crawl, muttering about the horrors robots posed to Kanto. Alaska simply chuckled under her breath, rather glad to have some company with her. Sandy was very nice and kind hearted, even if she was a bit clumsy and dim on occasions, and Alaska appreciated having someone other than herself to talk to.

They climbed in the silence for the next five minutes, and the light at the end of the tunnel began to grow rapidly in this time. Sandy moved quickly, getting more excited as they reached the end, while Alaska simply looked forward to find a nice flat rock to flop down on and heal her hands, possibly squeeze some training in Sandy messed around with the Clefairy.

"Here we go!" Sandy called excitedly as the conclusion of the tunnel finally appeared. Butterfree fluttered out first, and Sandy leapt outwards, and Alaska simply stepped out and breathed in rapidly, stretching her arms wide.

"FREEDOM!" She boomed, and turned around, standing in awe of the view they'd walked into. Mt Moon was the tallest mountain in Kanto, and it gave a splendid view over all of Kanto: Alaska could see Pewter, Viridian and Pewter to one side, while Cerulean, Saffron and Vermillion stretched far into the distance on the other side. Celadon and the Cycling Road were in the middle, and the distant figures of Lavender and Fuchsia joined the view. The ocean sparkled magically as the sun slowly began to set, and a light breeze swept across Alaska, stinging the injured parts of her body but seemed to wash away the other pain at the same time. It was like standing on top of the world, even if some skyscrapers were now taller than it now, and Alaska simply breathed in the magic and the beauty, turning with a wide smile to see what Sandy felt about this gorgeous view.

However, Sandy wasn't standing in front of her, and the new view wasn't that glorious.

"What the hell are you doing here?" Chloe Carmichael snapped, and Alaska instantly looked around at the edge they were standing next to, wondering how much joy shoving Chloe off Mt Moon would give her.

"I believe that Mt Moon is private property, Chloe deary," Alaska responded, thinking back to television specials about gravity and the weight of things adding to how fast they fell. She glanced around to see that other familiar faces were there: Damian and Lachlan were looking rather confused, whilst Amanda Anderson was furious calling someone on her cellphone, death boiling in her eyes. "What are you lot doing here then?"

"We're doing one of our challenges to win TM's and other prizes," Damian responded, and Alaska nodded, pleased to be listening to him than the other two. "We're doing something with the Clefairy, and –"

"DON'T tell them that!" Amanda shrieked, marching furiously over. She glared towards Alaska and Sandy, who was hovering fearfully behind Alaska, and seemed to be clutching her phone liked a grenade. "They might go on the internet and spoil the show! This is supposed to be a private set!"

"As I said before, this mountain's public property," Alaska hissed back, and decided to add insult to injury, "honey, unless your executives didn't tell you that." Amanda looked deadly, ignoring the fact that Damian, Lachlan and the film crew were silently giggling behind her.

"Go back to your fat arsed father, Avocado!" Chloe hissed, and Alaska whipped back towards her, angrily reaching for her PokeBalls. "Unless you want to battle me for your right to stay here!"

"Bring it!" Alaska hissed and threw her PokeBalls in Chloe's face. Chloe and Amanda both screamed as they burst open, and Paige and Darwin suddenly formed on her rival's body. Alaska burst out laughing as they clung on, causing Chloe to scream and run around. Alaska was sensitive about her father and his health and vow and silence, and being provoked by her wasn't something she needed.

"PIDGEOTTO!" Paige shrieked, and pushed Chloe away with her wings, and Amanda quickly caught her. Alaska nodded down at her Pokemon as they came back towards her, Paige joining Butterfree for a mid-air catch up. Amanda and Chloe remained between Alaska and the rest of their show crew, tension bubbling between them all. Alaska took the silence to examine the area they had entered. It was a relatively flat land, with some grass in the corners and a closed down shop nearby, wood boarded over all the doors and windows. The mountain's peak continued around them, and to Alaska it almost looked as if a large chunk of the mountain had been very smoothly carved away, leaving them with this area they currently had.

However, the main feature of this area was right at the other end.

A crater curved downwards, looking like it had happened more naturally than the mountain's carving. In the very center for something of pure beauty: a dazzling black rock, about the size of a small car, rested in the very middle. Possibly it had fallen from the sky and was the cause of the crater, Alaska didn't know, but she wanted to go out and touch it, as it looked just beautiful.

"Clefairy!" Sandy gasped and pointed, and Alaska looked around to see that the pink pixie-like Pokemon were emerging from the bushes. There must have been about a dozen of them, all skipping and smiling, moving down into the crater. As the sun continued to set, taking all light with it, more Clefairy emerged until there were about twenty, all moving down into the crater.

"Damnit," Amanda cursed glaring angrily around at everyone there. "We need to keep going with our mission… if you two are going to linger, just linger out of the way and don't interrupt our filming, or you'll be more than sorry!" The producer hissed at Alaska and Sandy, and Alaska simply smiled warmly back at her. "You three, line up and let's get this started!" Chloe gave Alaska one final glare before turning back around and heading towards the crater with Damian and Lachlan.

"Stupid bitches," Alaska hissed, turning back around to face the others. Sandy was staring down at the crater with a petrified look on her face, and Alaska glanced between her and the Clefairy. "What are you staring at?"

"The Clefairy, their going to do something to the Clefairy!" Sandy shrieked. Alaska turned and saw the three reality stars were lining up in front of the crater, Amanda telling them some information. It definitely looked like they were going to disturb the dancing Clefairy, and Alaska could tell they weren't meant to: there was a reason why the Clefairy had gathered around the black rock.

"It definitely looks that way," Alaska said. "Let's just move a bit closer to get within earshot, shall we?" Sandy and the Pokemon nodded, and they slowly moved behind the camera crew, listening to every word Amanda was saying.

"The Moon Stone, believed to be the remnant from an ancient meteor, is very important to the Clefairy," she said, reading off signs one of the workers was holding. "Each Monday night, the Clefairy come to the Moon Stone and dance around it. No one quite knows the reasons why, but some people believe Clefairy arrived one this meteor, and they pray and dance in honour of their ancestors.

"Your goal tonight is simple: break through the Clefairy and get to the Moon Stone. You must use your Pokemon to fend off the Clefairy and then to get a piece off the stone. The person who brings back the largest stone will win five Technical Machines off their choice and a range of berries for their Pokemon!"

"That's barbaric!" Sandy screeched, and all eyes turned back towards them. Amanda and Chloe instantly looked furious, and Alaska quickly took a step to the side, letting Sandy cop all the hate this time around. "How can you go and interrupt the Clefairy like this? If they're praying and dancing, why would you ruin that for them, especially if it only happens once a week? Just come back another day, pretend its Monday and use some robotic Clefairy!"

"We only do things for realsies on this show, thank you very much Blondie!" Chloe snapped back, and Alaska let out a snort laugh at the use of the word 'realsies'. "Oh shut up Alaska! Why don't go have a little cry in that blog of yours!" Alaska stopped laughing out loud, but continued to exchange looks with Paige and Darwin.

"Oh Chloe, I didn't even know you could read let along turn on a computer, good for you," she retorted with a smile. "Did you like the bits where I called you a –,"

"ENOUGH!" Amanda screamed, her voice echoing around and causing Sandy to jump. She looked positively murderous, and Damian and Lachlan exchanged concerned looks. "I don't care what the hell you two do, just get the fuck off my set before I throw you off! Go look for a fossil or something, I'm sure there are plenty down there!" Alaska was stunned by the producer's sudden outburst, but these words seemed suspicious: how did she know about fossils deep beneath the mountain? Was she simply guessing, or was there something Alaska didn't know?

"Let's just get going!" Chloe whined, and Amanda nodded, her eyes shooting back and forth between Alaska and her group.

"Yes, the mission… Um, no sabotaging each other… GO!" She shouted suddenly. Sandy let out a moan as the three stars raced forwards, throwing PokeBalls to send out Charmander, Squirtle and Bulbasaur respectively. Alaska simply watched the proceedings with suspicion, staring at them as the stars and their Pokemon began to descend into the crater.

One thing Alaska hadn't noticed until now had been the Clefairy: they had been happily dancing around the Moon Stone with smiles on their faces, chanting their names and waving their entire bodies as they moved in unison. They hadn't paid attention to any of the shouting or any of the noise occurring behind them, simply doing their little weekly ritual.

However, they couldn't three teenagers and three other Pokemon charging down into their crater. The Clefairy all stopped simultaneously, staring frightfully towards the group as they charged down.

"Bubble!" Lachlan shouted, and his Squirtle fired forwards several bubbles to the nearest Clefairy. It cried out and fell over, and the Clefairy collectively gasped.

"Oh, this can't be good…," Alaska said. The three stopped running as the Clefairy seemed to swell up, looking furious. They each raised their arms into the air, and the camera crew looked fearfully over at a shocked Amanda.

"Clefairy," the Clefairy all growled in one angry tone, and they began to swing their arms about, their fingers glowing white.

"That's Metronome!" A cameraman shouted. "You don't know what their going to sue, get out of there!" The stars didn't need telling twice, turning and leaping out of the crater as the first attacks were fired: Ice Beam, Flamethrower, Vine Whip, Hail, Rock Throw were just some of the moves unleashed, and Sandy screamed as the rocks above them rumbled, a Rock Slide and Avalanche both occurring.

"We need to get out of here, now!" Alaska shouted. The Clefairy were marching forwards, their arms moving once more, and there was a flash as one Clefairy flew upwards, while others unleashed BubbleBeam, Bullet Seed, Psybeam and Toxic. Chloe screamed and clung onto Bulbasaur, while Charmander and Squirtle fought back.

"Mankey Man Man!" Darwin screeched, leaping about, clearly eager to fight back against them.

"No Darwin, this isn't our fight, we didn't start this!" Alaska said, and Paige nodded in a knowing manner. Darwin looked saddened, but Alaska rolled her eyes and turned back to Sandy as the camera crew packed up their supplies and fled a Muddy Water attack. "Sandy, you and Butterfree need to get down that tunnel, now!"

"Alright," Sandy said shakily, and held tightly onto Butterfree and began running towards the tunnel, where Chloe was already fleeing with the crew. Damian nodded at Alaska as he walked past, Charmander trying to Ember back the Clefairy, and Alaska simply turned away, not sure what that was meant to mean.

"You two, let's get going. Only fight back if their going to hurt you, okay?" Alaska said. Darwin nodded reluctantly, but Paige was staring up at the sky, her beak as wide as it could possibly go, her eyes as round as saucers. "What is it?" Alaska asked, and stared upwards. Only then could she see the flying Clefairy hurtling down towards, engulfed in violet coloured energy. Alaska just swore and grabbed Paige and Darwin, jumping to the side as the Clefairy smashed into the ground they had just been standing on, making her own little crater that otherwise would have been Alaska's head. For a second, Alaska thought they were safe, and could now run back to the tunnel.

Unfortunately, she had jumped to the left instead of the right, and stared down at the empty space below her, cursing her untimely jumping abilities as they began to fall.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Chapter 17

@Alaskapigeon @WinterVines

Chapter Eighteen: In Mid-Plight with Paras

The first thing Alaska could feel was that horrible feeling of falling.

For the first second that they were in the air, Alaska could feel her stomach jumping up into her throat. She could feel her heart pounding painfully within her chest, beating with fear and surprise. Alaska could feel a tingling coldness in her feet as the wind battered against them, and she could feel the scream forming up in her throat. Paige's talons cut her into her skin, and Darwin was beating against her body. Alaska simply looked down with eyes wide with shock and unleashed the scream as they began to fall.

The scream echoed as they fell, and Alaska couldn't help herself as they began to fall like a large rock that had come loose. The sensation throughout her body was unbearable, and she couldn't help but see the jagged rocks that were awaiting them at the end of the fall.

I can survive giant robots and sadistic mad men, Alaska thought as Paige began to yell in fear as well, yet I'm going to be taken out by a flying Clefairy and a very pointy rock… oh the irony.

"MAN MAN MAN!" Darwin yelled, and Alaska could feel him squirming, wondering if he was going to try and escape and leave them to die. But as Alaska opened her stinging eyes, she could see Darwin had his arms outstretched, trying to grab onto an outcrop of rock, trying to save them.

"PAIGE, PUSH US CLOSER TO THE MOUNTAIN," Alaska screamed, overjoyed to see that Darwin did actually like her and was trying to save them. Paige flapped her wings furiously, and the bundle of bodies was forced forwards towards Mt Moon. Alaska shut her eyes again, afraid of falling forwards and getting killed by a rock. Darwin suddenly grunted, and Alaska could feel a jolt, her stomach falling back into the right place. Her entire body was shaking as she opened her eyes and saw that the mountain was no longer moving upwards away from them. Darwin was holding tightly onto one outcrop, using all of his strength to hold on.

"YES!" Alaska screamed in delight, and gave Darwin a tight squeeze. The Mankey simply nodded, and suddenly propelled them upwards. Paige let out a strangled cry of fright, but Darwin managed to grab onto an outcrop high above them. Alaska wanted to congratulate him, but the wind was freezing and, combined with having just fallen hundreds of metres, it was causing her body to shake uncontrollably. Alaska simply held on tight as Darwin used his natural abilities to leap up the mountain, scaling the distance they had fallen in about ten seconds in the same time. The sounds of the battle above were getting louder, and Alaska braced herself for what to expect.

"Get ready to battle you two!" She shouted, staring up as the ledge got closer. "We are going to have to fight our way through and get into the tunnel." Paige and Darwin both made a noise, but Alaska couldn't tell if it was in agreement or fear or something else entirely and simply hoped they were ready. Darwin stretched out and grabbed the edge and heaved them upwards, high above the ground and back into the battle.

From up here, things looked quite intense. Damian and Lachlan remained fighting against the Clefairy, but it was clear Charmander and Squirtle weren't up to the challenge. Most of the crew had fled, but a cameraman and boom operator remained, using a Magneton, Machoke, Raticate and Exploud between them to fend the Pokemon off. Chloe and Amanda were nowhere to be seen, but Sandy's shouts could reach Alaska up in the air, and she could see her friend looked terrified to be chased by the Clefairy she had liked only a few moments ago. Alaska was furious at the reality show for causing this mess, and knew the Clefairy just wanted to protect their precious stone, and felt guilty at the fact that she would have to stop them.

"Paige, Twister them to give a clear run to the cave," Alaska cried as they began to sink back to earth. Paige nodded and let going, moving to the centre of the pink mass and began spinning. Alaska positioned her legs to brace for impact, still holding onto Darwin as they fell.

"MANKEEEY!" Darwin shrieked as he used Karate Chop on an unsuspecting Clefairy, blasting them away into the night. Alaska thudded into the ground, groaning in the pain she seemed to keep on suffering, and looked at Darwin for a help up. But the Mankey was tearing through the Clefairy, sending them flying with each chop of his hands, and it looked as if something had been let loose in a box of plush toys. Paige's Twister appeared, sucking most of them up and sending them flying to the bushes they had come from, but more just kept on coming.

"Don't these things ever faint," Alaska hissed, and pushed her injured hands to the ground in order to push herself up. However, a hand appeared before he, and Alaska looked up to see Damian standing before her, looking concerned. "Thanks," Alaska said as she grabbed hold and was heaved onto her feet.

"I wouldn't want you to get trampled by a Clefairy now would I?" Damian said with a smile, and Alaska managed to smile back, despite the pain throughout her body and the fact that the Clefairy seemed to be getting stronger. Alaska was going to ask Damian more about the shows role here when something large appeared to the side, and Alaska turned in shock to see an Arbok was rising up next to them. It was standing on its long, thick purple tail, staring down at them and hissing, and Alaska could see why Arbok had a face-pattern on their chests: it was a frightening image, and she could image it being the last thing a vulnerable Pokemon saw before being eaten.

"CHAAAR-BOK-BOK!" The Arbok screeched and dived between Alaska and Damian, straight into the crowd of Clefairy. The Clefairy all screamed as the purple beast struck them, whacking them aside with its long, thrashing tail.

"IRON TAIL, BITE, SLUDGE BOMB!" Amanda was rushing forwards, her clothing torn by the Clefairy and their attacks, her perfect hair now a wreck. She looked positively furious, and kept glaring over at Alaska as if she was going to send Arbok after her next.

"I say we leave her to it and head for the tunnel," Alaska whispered, taking the look as a cue to leave, and Damian nodded and picked up a battered Charmander from the ground. They quickly sprinted towards the entrance, Alaska calling out for Paige and Darwin, Damian grabbing Lachlan as they ran past.

"Smart idea," he said as he rescued Squirtle, and the three ran across the empty, safe space between this point and the tunnel. Alaska could sense freedom coming from it, but paused as Sandy screamed once again. She was standing trapped on a rock, clutching Butterfree and preventing her from battling, the Clefairy firing attacks towards them. Sandy had saved Alaska's life earlier, so the blogger saw it as only fair that she come in and help her out, and settle their debt at the same time.

"Paige, Steel Wing to scatter them!" Alaska shouted, pointing at Sandy.

"PIDGE!" Paige cried and shot directly downwards. Her glowing silver wings startled the Clefairy, and they spread apart to avoid being hit. Sandy continued screaming as she leapt forwards, running as fast as could towards Alaska as Damian and Lachlan disappeared into the tunnel. Alaska slapped her across the face, and Sandy was so shocked she stopped screaming.

"OW!" She said, rubbing her cheek, but Alaska merely shrugged.

"A thank you would have been more appropriate, but oh well," she said with a smile, and could see Paige had flown back to pick up Darwin, who seemed to prefer beating up Clefairy than saving his own life. "Alright then you lot, let's get running!" Alaska shouted, and sprinted into the tunnel. Sandy and the Pokemon quickly followed behind as they entered the darkness, the sounds of battle not leaving them yet. Alaska forgot about her earlier fears of falling down and simply sprinted, worrying about what would happen she stopped when they got near the bottom. Paige flew by her side with a sulking Mankey in her talons, and Sandy was muttering to Butterfree something along the lines of 'wasn't what I was expecting.'

"Just keep moving, we need to get out of here, fast!" Alaska shouted, her legs still aching and feeling fairly wobbly running at this angle. She didn't care if Amanda and her Arbok were blasted off the face of the mountain, as long as they got away from the fight.

"ALASKA, GO BACK!" A voice suddenly yelled, and Alaska wondered where it was coming from. But than she saw several faces appearing from the darkness, lights flashing behind them: it was Damian, Lachlan and a screaming Chloe, another group of Clefairy chasing after them.

"How did this happen?" Alaska shouted back at them, before realising they were all still running. She tried to stop, but simply skidded and had Sandy run into her. They collided with Lachlan, whose flailing arms hit the other two, and the humans all landed in a large pile on the ground.

"In answer to your question, I don't bloody know," Damian grunted. Alaska merely grunted at him as she looked up, seeing that a dozen or so Clefairy were marching forwards, their arms waving and a deadly glare in their eyes. They were either joining the fight or had been knocked down the tunnel by the fighting, but either way, they were angry and they were ready to fight.

"This is your entire fault Alaska!" Chloe hissed as they all got to their feet, uninjured this time. "If you hadn't come, we wouldn't be in this mess!" Alaska turned to her rival and glared at her, and heard Paige and Darwin growl as well.

"How exactly do you figure that, you slutty moron?" She snapped back, and Chloe gasped, her Bulbasaur growling up at Alaska. The blonde walked forward and lifted a hand, ready to swing it across, but Damian grabbed hold of it and pulled it down, just as a Water Gun was fired.

"Maybe we should be focused on escaping, and you two can have your fight later?" Sandy suggested. Alaska nodded, and the group began to run back up the tunnel as the Clefairy continued to fire. Paige, Darwin, Butterfree, Charmander and Squirtle all fired back attacks, but it didn't seem to be enough to stop the Clefairy as they unleashed a wide variety of attacks that varied in strength and type, but seemed to be able to defeat them. Alaska was getting worried: what if they weren't able to defeat the Clefairy, what then? If they worshipped a giant moon stone, would they go even further than that? Alaska was just thinking about a Clefairy slicing open her chest and sacrificing her on the stone when something hit her foot, and she swore loudly as once again she fell down.

"What the hell is it this time?" She fumed as she put her hands out to stop her, but only angered the injuries. Lachlan and Chloe kept on running, and Alaska caught Damian glancing back at her as he took off, but only Sandy came to a halt.

"Are you –,"

"I'm fine, just help me up!" Alaska snapped, being pushed beyond her limits today, and as Sandy and Darwin helped her up, Alaska looked down at where she had tripped, ready to hurtle the rock into oblivion. However, what she saw instead was a Pokemon: a very small, pale creature with red mushrooms on its hard back and large claws, which it was currently using to hide its face.

"It's a Paras!" Alaska gasped. She had always admired the half Grass, half Bug type, despite it being quite unpopular. One had appeared at her school once, and most of the children teased it for being small and tried to steal its mushrooms. Alaska wanted to hug it, but the teacher had removed it, complaining about it being a 'weak, annoying Pokemon.' "I feel so bad for yelling at it!"

"Pidgeotto Pidge Pidgey?" Paige said in a sarcastic tone, and Alaska simply shot her a nasty look as she bent down to pick it up. The Paras scuttled away from her hands, and Alaska made an 'aww' sound at it, causing Paige and Darwin to exchange looks.

"Hey, I still have a feminine side!" Alaska snapped, and Paige and Darwin simply exchanged smirks again. Alaska was tempted to throw something at them, but than the Clefairy fired more attacks, and Alaska realised they were meant to be fleeing.

"Can we please go?" Sandy screeched, staring at the advancing Clefairy with fright.

"In a minute!" Alaska snapped, shaking a hand, and looked back towards the Paras. She was staring frightfully between the Clefairy and Alaska, clearly not sure which one to be more afraid of, and simply began shaking.

"PAR!" She cried, and a cloud of yellow particles shot from the mushrooms. Alaska covered her mouth, and the others all did the same, but the particles wafted down towards the Clefairy. The advancing army of pink seized up as the particles surrounded them, and several came to a complete stop while the rest tried to walk onwards, but moved at a much slower pace.

"Stun Spore, she's paralyzed the lot of them!" Alaska cried. Darwin seemed to see this as an opportunity, and he began swinging his Karate Chops once more. Butterfree fluttered down and fired several Confusions, and soon the Clefairy were all rolling down the tunnel. Sandy clapped with joy, but Alaska's attention was on the Paras that was still staring frightfully up at her.

"I'm not going to hurt you," she said, reaching out her hands. The Paras was looking up at her with its shaking body, clearly not sure as it kept reaching out and than pulling back its claws. Alaska thought that, given a few more moments, she could have caught her right than and there.

But than the worst happened.

A scream erupted behind them, and Alaska sighed, half expecting some rampaging, mutant Clefairy to appear after the day she'd had. She looked around to see that Chloe and Amanda were leading the group of screaming figures, with Damian, Lachlan and the camera crew all running behind. Paige fluttered onto Alaska's shoulders and wrapped her wings around her neck in fright, but Alaska didn't actually know what they were fleeing from until she heard the cry.

"CLEFAIRY, CLEFAIRY, CLEFARIY!" All the Clefairy from the top had formed into one giant pack, and they were now a moving mass of angry pink monsters. Alaska quickly grabbed hold of Darwin as Sandy ran screaming past, and than scooped up the Paras before she could run off.

"Trust me, this will be better for you," Alaska whispered, and ran as fast as she could. There was no way they would be able to overpower them all, especially as the attacks they were using seemed to be getting stronger, with a Hydro Pump and Seed Bomb nearly knocking Alaska over. Chloe and Amanda overtook her as they screamed, Bulbasaur and Arbok trailing behind them, and Alaska ended up running between Damian and Lachlan. She wasn't sure how much longer was left to go, but once they were in an open space, Alaska wondered if the Clefairy would stop.

"We need a way to defeat them all with one move," Damian yelled.

"Unless you've got an Arceus in your pocket, I don't think we've got a move like that," Alaska shouted back.

"Well, you could say he's got an Arceus in his -," Lachlan began with a wide smile, but Alaska whacked him over the head before he could finish. The Paras was cowering in her arms, and Alaska felt bad for the poor thing, but was becoming more concerned about how they were going to escape. Her legs ached furiously and her entire body felt ready to collapse into a heap, and the only way of defeating them was what Damian had said.

"We don't need a special move," Damian said. "We just need something strong that could affect them all at once!" Amanda's head suddenly whipped around, and she looked at her Arbok and smiled.

"EARTHQUAKE, NOW!" The producer yelled, and her Arbok stopped and nodded, moving to the side so the others could get passed. Alaska was focusing on running, but she looked up at the roof of the tunnel, which was shaking and covering them with dust as they ran.

"WAIT! If you do that, the tunnel will collapse!" Alaska shouted. Amanda looked back and nodded at her, her smile stretching across her face: she was well aware that the Clefairy would die, and she didn't care at all. "NO, we can't kill them, it's not their fault this happened!" Alaska came to a stop, looking at Paige and ready to give an order to stop the attacks. But two of the camera crew suddenly grabbed her, and Alaska tried to free herself from their strong grip but ultimately failed, the two men much stronger than she was and carried her away.

"PIDGE!" Paige squawked, and tried beating the men away, but it was no use. Alaska was carried out of the tunnel just as Arbok unleashed a scream. She turned and watched as the tunnel began to shake, heard the screams of the Clefairy echoing down to them. Arbok's serpentine body slipped out just as the tunnel collapsed, and the group moved out of the way to avoid the falling rocks.

Silence fell between them, everyone taking into account what had just happened. The camera crew let go of Alaska, and she gave them a vicious look as she moved over to a frightened Sandy, who was clinging to Butterfree a little too tightly.

"Let's get out of here," Alaska growled. "I'm afraid I'll catch whatever cold hearted disease these people seem to have." She looked back at Amanda, who simply laughed in quite a contained fashion.

"If I hadn't killed them all, we could all be dead," she snapped back. "You should be thanking me, not glaring at me! Save your emotions for another day, you silly little girl, and just be glad at what happened. Maybe you can pay me back by not ruining this show again, alright?" Alaska simply raised her middle fingers at the woman and walked off into the cave. Sandy leapt up and followed after, not saying a word, which Alaska greatly appreciated. She simply wanted to walk and not look back at the show.

There was a reason why she was on this journey, and that was to prove that she was better than them, that she better than those that relied on starters. And after what had just happened, Alaska was looking forward to defeating Red and than crushing whichever one of them showed up at the Champion's Stadium.

It would be Alaska's very own cherry on top, and she couldn't wait for that to happen.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Chapter 18

@Alaskapigeon @WinterVines

Chapter Nineteen: Let's Go Digging – For Answers!

"Come on Alaska, your slowing me down!"

"I'm going slowly because, frankly, I've been injured enough for a lifetime over the past few days, and I don't want to get hurt again. Besides, the last time I followed after you, we nearly got killed, did we not?"

"Egh, are you going to keep playing that card? You can't keep blaming me for that one, and do not use it as an excuse for you being slow and lazy!"

Alaska simply rolled her eyes as she followed after Sandy, following her lavender dress for afar as it managed to stick out in the darkness. Two nights and a day had passed since the incident with the reality stars, and Alaska was still disgusted by what had happened. Yesterday they had seen a team come into clear away the rubble, and by standing on the top of Sandy's Onix to blend in, they heard them mention that a dozen Clefairy bodies were found crushed by the rocks. It had sickened Alaska to her very core, and all she wanted to do was train and find the reality stars again and defeat them all with a move apiece.

She was stunned that Amanda could have done such a thing: she was a complete bitch from what Alaska had gathered, but killing a group of Pokemon to save themselves… that was the lowest thing Alaska had ever seen, and it disgusted her. She half expected the reality stars to have all quit, but Alaska and Sandy saw them doing another game involving solving a rock puzzle. All three, even Damian, seemed unfazed by it, and Alaska had felt personally hurt by it. No doubt the incident with the Clefairy would be wiped from the series, the stars told to forget about it, and it took all of Paige, Sandy and Butterfree's strength combined to stop her running over and shouting at them all.

That wasn't to say the day had been all bad. The little Paras Alaska had rescued didn't seem to want to leave them, though it didn't seem to want to stay with them either. After nearly an hour of running away and then running back, squeaking every time one of the other Pokemon moved and cowering behind her claws, Alaska rolled a Great Ball she had found towards the shy little Paras. It took only a few moments to decide, but than Alaska had a brand new Pokemon in Frances.

But though Alaska was desperate to leave Mt Moon, and put all the bad memories behind her, Sandy had been spurred on by a comment Amanda had made: fossils. The blonde haired girl was kind hearted and well intentioned, but obsessed on single thoughts, and refused to leave until they managed to find any fossils. Alaska had been unwilling, but after remembering what had happened at Pewter Museum, she became intrigued. If there were any fossils of Kabuto or Omanyte down here, and they managed to find them, maybe Alaska could get them back to Mark, and possibly get a better explanation of things in the process.

Unfortunately, Sandy had an interesting way of finding things.

"You do realise that by simply staring at the walls, we aren't going to find any fossils?" Alaska called out. Sandy simply gave her a look that read 'stop whining' and kept walking, Butterfree out and scanning the rocks for anything with her Compoundeyes. Alaska sighed once more, and kept on walking with Paige flying overhead, Darwin scaling the walls for fun, and Frances nervously walking beside her, seeming scared at everything that happened.

"How much further do you think we'll go?" Alaska asked, scooping Frances up and nearly causing the mushrooms to leap from her back in surprise in the process. Sandy came to a stop and turned around, giving Alaska a look that was meant to be cross but looked more comical.

"Well Alaska, I am not going to find any fossils if you keep being snappy, am I?" She growled, and Alaska merely shrugged, figuring she had a fair point. They continued moving, Paige getting so bored that she settled on Alaska's shoulder, and Frances looked very comfortable as she stared up at Alaska.

"We are going to have to test your abilities out at some point," Alaska said, and the Paras gave a little nod of agreement. Paige smiled warmly at the two, and Alaska had high hopes at that moment for the rest of her journey. If she could get Frances up to scratch in time for Cerulean City and its Water type gym, than she could breeze through there and hopefully reach Saffron City and its Psychic gym, where Frances' Bug abilities would definitely be useful. But for now, Alaska just wanted to focus on getting out of Mt Moon and moving onto better pastures.

"I can hear something!" Sandy suddenly shrieked, doing a little dance on the spot. Alaska snapped out of her chain of thought and listened: she could definitely hear the sound of the something striking the wall, and as well as something… sparking?

"Someone must have found the fossils for us!" Sandy shouted, and before Alaska could say anything, she began skipping away towards the source of the noise. Butterfree looked at the ground and sighed, and gave Alaska a sort of pleading look before quickly flying off after her.

"I don't know what the noise is, but whatever it is, I highly doubt it is going to be good," Alaska said, and Paige nodded. Sandy was already speeding off into the distance, but Alaska saw Darwin suddenly leap after her, and smiled, glad to have someone on her tail. "SANDY, WAIT UP! BE CAREFUL!" Alaska shouted, her voice echoing dramatically around, and took off as fast as she could. Paige leapt up and began to fly after, while Frances simply curled up and covered her eyes. "Come on now Franny: if you're going to be a member of this team, you're going to have to get ready for crazy stuff."

"Para Par," Frances responded weakly, and Alaska simply laughed, though it faded when she realised a sudden change: there wasn't any noise. Alaska could hear Butterfree calling out to Sandy, and Sandy snapped something back, but they hadn't registered the sudden change in noise. Instead, something seemed to be glowing behind them… something circular…

"Shit," Alaska growled. "SANDY, RUN! PAIGE, TWISTER!"

"Thunderbolt," a voice that was all too familiar ordered, and before Sandy could register anything, a powerful blast of electricity fired between her and Butterfree. Sandy screamed as Paige squawked, her feathers standing on end. Alaska nearly dropped Frances to the ground as she sped forwards and caught her, Sandy fleeing past on the other side.

"Are you alright?" Alaska asked quickly. Paige's eyes were half closed and she looked slightly scorched, but she managed a nod. Alaska smiled down at her as Darwin appeared at her side, fists clenched and staring towards the light that was casting gloomy shadows across them all. Footsteps echoed in the silence that was only broken by Sandy's occasional screams, and Alaska looked up with an angry scowl, furious to see she had been beaten to the chase.

"Ah, Alaska," Gideon said with his creepy smile, "how nice to see you again. Well… not really. It is very disappointing to see my devices are not up to the task of killing you, but oh well. I can always kill you myself."

"I wouldn't be so sure of that," Alaska snapped, and Darwin took a step forwards, an angry, determined scowl on his face. Gideon's Electrode rolled forwards, sparks continuing to fly from its body. "You're here for the fossils, aren't you?" Gideon simply smiled and raised up a large metal pick axe.

"Guilty as charged! After all these years, it was quite easy to find them again," Gideon said, "but I had forgotten how deep I have had placed them – that was a bit of a silly mistake on my part now, wasn't it?"

"What do you want the fossils for?" Alaska asked quickly, not sure if he would answer or not, but Gideon simply laughed and looked down at Electrode, who laughed in quite an electronic manner.

"Now Alaska, I could tell you what my plans of revenge are, but than I would have to kill you… well, I am going to kill you anyway, but there is always a chance it would get out. And while we are having this nice chat, who is your lovely new friend whimpering pathetically over there?" Alaska wanted to punch Gideon with all her might, knowing an insult would not improve Sandy's views on this. But as she turned to face the blonde haired girl, Alaska was surprised to see her straightening up and wiping away the tears, staring determinedly over at Gideon.

"My name is Sandy Samson, but only my friends call me Sandy, so you can call me Alexandra," Sandy said boldly, and Gideon simply smiled.

"Hello than Alexandra Samson, it is lovely to meet you," he said with a wide, sickening smile. "Unfortunately, I am going to kill you both now so I can get back to digging for my fossils. It was lovely to see you again Alaska, but it is even better to know you are not going to get in my way again."

"Don't worry Gideon, I have a way of staying in the way," Alaska snapped. She was sick of Gideon and this whole messy drama she seemed to be involved in: all Alaska wanted was to get this out of the way and concentrate on her league challenge. The only way she could get that done was by eliminating Gideon. "Darwin, Karate Chop on that pick axe. Frances, Stun Spore on Electrode!"

"MAN MAN!" Darwin shouted, leaping forwards and striking the pick axe before Gideon could react. It snapped cleanly in two and cluttered to the ground, and Darwin swept the pieces up with his tail. Frances, however, just look at the sparking Electrode as if Alaska had asked her to mate with it. Electrode smiled and fired another bolt, moving once again with excellent speed. Alaska screamed as it blasted her in the stomach, causing Paige and Frances to fall from her arms and Alaska to roll through across the ground, a hole blasted through her red shirt.

"Fricking bloody shit," Alaska cursed, the pain creeping through her entire body. She could imagine arriving back home right now and her mother screaming at the amount of injuries she had gained in only a week a bit of being away. There was a scream and Sandy rushed over, looking at Alaska with hands clasped over her mouth.

"Are you alright? Are you hurt? Can you move – oh my god, you're paralyzed, aren't you?" She cried, looking horrified.

"I will be fine if you just help me up," Alaska growled, though her anger should be directed towards Gideon. Sandy nodded and grasped Alaska's slowly healing hands, helping her get back to her feet. It appeared that Paige and Butterfree had entered the battle, the Pidgeotto whacking Gideon constantly with her wings while Butterfree aided Darwin in fighting Electrode from above. Frances simply backed away, looking petrified by the entire situation.

"We need to capture him and take him to the police in Cerulean City," Alaska told Sandy, staring at the scientist as he pathetically tried to bat away Paige. Sandy nodded, and than her face lit up like a lightbulb.

"And I know just how to do it!" She cried, and grabbed a Great Ball from her pocket. Alaska was intrigued to see Sandy had a second Pokemon, and then froze when she remembered that she already knew this fact, and knew what was within that ball.

"Sandy, no, sto –," Alaska began to cry, but Sandy had already rolled it forwards. Alaska growled and pulled Sandy out of the way as her Onix began to form, blue energy spilling out of the Great Ball as if a very small pipe had a very large leak. The two girls ended up back with their Pokemon, staring up as Onix rose up towards the roof, letting out a gigantic roar. Alaska looked down at the Pokemon and Gideon, all who had stopped fighting in order to stare at the beast. Paige and Darwin simply looked up at Onix, and then turned towards Alaska and gave her a look that quite clearly read 'you're serious?'

"Paras Paras Paras Paras Paras Paras Paras Paras!" Frances squealed, rushing forwards and scaling Alaska's body, looking like she was about to explode. Onix glared down at them, looking positively angry about being sent out, though Sandy seemed to have a confident smile on her face.

"Let's see you try and fight this one!" She called out to Gideon. The scientist was staring up at the Rock Snake with as much surprise as the rest of them, but turned towards Sandy at her words and smiled.

"Nice move Alexandra, very nice move indeed," he said. "It appears that I am a beat… for today, at least." Alaska looked surprised, but Gideon simply laughed coolly. "I am a smart man Alaska, I know when I cannot win a battle. Fighting an Onix of this size would be foolish. Besides, you cannot stay in Mt Moon forever. I will be back once you have gone, and I will definitely succeed in getting my fossils."

"I will get them first then!" Alaska shouted back. She didn't care if Gideon wasn't going to kill them today or not: she wanted to end this and find out the truth about his plans and get back to focussing on her journey. "I am not going to let you get away with whatever twisted plan you have! You can either take the fossils right now, or I will get them and destroy them!" Gideon looked rather taken aback by this, but a scowl suddenly appeared on his face, his fists clenching up. Electrode rolled back towards them, sparking and glowing more than ever.

"I warned you about getting involved, thinking you would do the smart thing and stay away, but I can see I was wrong!" The madman shouted. "You are a fool Alaska, and I hope you can get that through your head before I blow it off! GYRO BALL!"

"Trode Elec Elec Electrode," Electrode said robotically, and suddenly flashed silver and shot forwards. Alaska realised in a second there was no chance to flee, no chance to escape, and simply held her hands up to her face to shield herself, forgetting who was still in her arms…

"PARAAAA!" Frances yelled, and Alaska opened her eyes in shock, but saw the little Paras do something amazing: one of her tiny claws flashed silver and swung forwards, just as the deadly Electrode appeared. Alaska nearly toppled over as Electrode came up close, but the powerful Metal Claw sent it flying backwards, straight back to the opposite wall. There was a thud that shattered through the silence, even Onix appearing stunned at what had happened, and they watched as rocks slid aside from the force of the attack, Electrode rolling away unconscious.

"Well that's new," Alaska said, staring down at Frances in shock. The Paras seemed terrified by everyone staring at her, and simply curled back into a ball and shielded herself from their view. "At least we've made some progress…," Alaska said, and looked up at the others. Paige and Sandy both shrugged, but Darwin and Butterfree were focused on something else. Alaska looked in the same direction they were, and saw they and Gideon were staring at the place Electrode had just crashed into. A large section of rock had fallen away, leaving a chamber unhidden, along with its contents.

Fossils.

Alaska couldn't see if the Dome or Helix fossils were there, but the Old Amber's distinctive colour allowed it to stand out in this light. Gideon looked at Alaska, and Alaska looked at her Pokemon. In a split second everyone moved except Sandy and her Pokemon, who still didn't quite understand what was going on, and they all moved towards the gap.

"STOP HIM!" Alaska roared. She wasn't going to let Gideon get the fossils, not after they had come so close. Darwin leapt forwards with surprising speed and heading towards the chamber, but Gideon quickly struck out and sent the Mankey sprawling.

"OOOOTTOOOO!" Paige cried and began attacking his face, stopping Gideon in his tracks as he tried to bat her away, but only walked straight into Electrode and sprawled over to the ground. Alaska beamed and sprinted as fast as she could, wondering if she should rescue the fossils or destroy them before Gideon could get them.

But as something rumbled nearby, Alaska knew her day wasn't going to end well.

She looked to the left as a rumbling filled the cave, slowly getting louder and louder. The entire cave was shaking, and Alaska couldn't run due to the vibrations occurring. She simply looked around and could see something coming rapidly towards them: it was large and circular and moving at a rapid pace.

"BOULDER!" Sandy screamed, and Alaska had to agree, though was left stunned at the sheer size of it and wondered how it was even moving, no sloped areas anywhere near them.

"Free Free!" Butterfree cried as the boulder got closer, and her eyes flashed pink. The Confusion would have been strong enough to knock the boulder off course, but the thing simply was covered by a pink wave and kept moving in the same direction. Alaska was ready to run to higher ground, but than the boulder did something that made several very rude words form in her head.

It jumped.

"WHAT THE HELL!" Sandy screamed, watching as the boulder suddenly sprouted legs and leapt up. It was beginning to move, arms sprouting out along with what could be a head. The boulder creature moved past a chasm of light, and Alaska saw an ugly brown head and a segmented body, and knew it was no boulder.

"It's a fricking Golem!" She shouted.

"OOOONNNNNNNIIIIIXXXX!" Onix seemed to take this as his cue to start being loud and noisy once more, and bolted forwards to fight. Golem's arms clasped onto his head, and the Rock Snake began flailing his massive body around as he tried to fight with it, a battle of giant beast on giant beast. Alaska was so confused and annoyed that she wanted to scream, but more importantly wanted to be safe. She heaved Darwin off the ground and saw Paige was still pecking at Gideon, who was yelling and trying to fend her off with rocks.

"HE'S NOT WORTH IT!" Alaska shouted, and Paige looked up, clearly disappointed that she couldn't attack him. "We need to get going. Let the bloody Golem kill him!" Paige seemed to nod at this and flew away. Alaska gave Gideon one last look of resentment before kicking him in his bleeding legs, savouring his yell. She would gladly grab the fossils, but she couldn't carry them along with Darwin and Frances, and there wasn't enough time to bring them back with the flailing Onix nearby.

"RUN!" Alaska shouted to Sandy and pushed her forwards, Butterfree and Paige already hovering behind a safe pile of rocks. Sandy continued to scream as Onix roared and tried to shake Golem off, and they only just got behind the pile when Onix thought of a new tactic. He turned his body around and arched up before diving forwards head first, Golem still holding on. If any of them had been there, they would have been crushed, and Alaska briefly applauded Onix's tactics as he smashed Golem to the ground.

Unfortunately at that point, Golem exploded.

This wasn't a Pokemon move such as Selfdestruct or Explosion: the Golem literally exploded. Orange light lit up the entire cavern, and Alaska pulled Sandy and the Pokemon behind the pile as she saw rock formations and packs of Zubat and Geodude she hadn't seen in the darkness. The force was enough to blow their pile of rocks apart, and Alaska kept her face to the ground as the stones washed over her body. Onix's roar was louder than the actual blast, and the pain he must be going through of getting an up close explosion was unimaginable.

The whole thing lasted only ten seconds, and Alaska only moved once she was sure things were safe. She leapt to her feet to find dust clouding the few, but Onix's body was visible through it. Sandy leapt to her feet and moved before Alaska could stop her, racing towards Onix screaming.

"ONIX, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" She yelled.

"BE CAREFUL!" Alaska cried out. Paige fluttered her wings to clear the dust and smoke, and Butterfree used Confusion to clear a safe path. Alaska wasn't surprised by the large amounts of rock or several damaged ground that got moved, but froze up when she saw more unusual things: twisted metal, sparking wires and circuit boards, the flaming head of the Golem that had shattered glass where its eyes should have been.

"Oh Onix!" Sandy cried, and Alaska looked over briefly to see Onix was charred but otherwise unharmed, deep rumblings sounding from his body. Sandy appeared to be trying to wash the ash over with a handkerchief, and Alaska would have told her not to be silly or laughed if she hadn't noticed something else.

Gideon was gone.

Alaska ran forwards, Paige flying overhead, and rushed past more damage to where she had last seen the madman. But he was no longer there, and neither was Electrode… and neither were the fossils.

"FUUUUUCK!" Alaska screamed, throwing her bag against the wall and kicking several loose stones. Sandy gave her a shocked look through her teary eyed face, but Alaska didn't care and continued to scream, putting Darwin and Frances down as she clutched her head in her rage, pulling at her hair and kicking more rocks.

"Pidgey Pidge Pidgeotto," Paige called softly, but Alaska ignored her, too confused and too angry to listen: angry at Gideon, angry at the Golem robot, angry at herself for letting her guard down and not getting the fossils. Now Gideon was somewhere with the fossils, his plan even closer to succeeding than before. But the one thing Alaska wanted to ram her head against the wall for wasn't that.

Another robot had appeared, and based on the fact it had risen quickly out of nowhere with no slopes should have been warning enough that it wasn't natural. Someone other than Gideon was trying to kill her, possibly both of them, and Alaska wanted to know who and wanted to know why.



Darwin was going to evolve in this part, but I decided that he isn't quite there yet, so he will be evolving sometime before Vermillion instead. I also wasn't going to expand on the robotics after the giant Beedrill, but I think Beedrill got well received and I figured it would actually help the plot more, so its stayed in

Another note: In Interlude Three, I put Articuno instead of Zapdos, which is incorrect as Leaf owns Articuno and Red Zapdos

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Chapter 19

@WinterVines@Alaskapigeon

This one isn't quite as funny as previous blogs, so be prepared for that Interlude Four out later today... hopefully

Blog Five: A Right Pickle

Hello my loyal readers once more – and what a blog I have for you today. It is full of the usual psychotic madmen, annoying celebrities and gigantic robots, but I decided to have an extra painful week and sprinkled in some dead Pokemon, a new friend and Pokemon and several just swell injuries to the mix

Things went downhill when a giant Onix nearly killed me. I'm sure you're all thinking Butthat'sjustanormaldayintheday–to–daylifeofAlaska and it unfortunately is beginning to seem that way. I was saved from the Onix by my lovely friend Sandy Samson, who may have helped me out this time, but got me into the two of the biggest things I've had to deal with so far.

Sandy saw some Clefairy, and she thought it would be fun to chase them up a large tunnel to nowhere, and of course I had to follow along. It was quite a long and very nerve wracking walk that didn't help when your body is bleeding, but I carried on and than we got to this part of the mountain that had a large moon stone in a crater that would look much better in my bedroom or broken down into a lovely piece of jewellery, but I would not do that to the poor Clefairy who live there.

Pity the same can't be said for everyone.

The reality stars were there, and were planning on using the Clefairy and their stone for a part of their demented little game. I am sure you have all realised how much I despise these people, but I think I will clarify for good measure: I hope stalactites land on their skulls and reach down into their hearts, and than cannibals find them and cook them alongside brussel sprouts and oven fries. So yes, I hate them all so very very much, and I do hope that their bitch of a producer and that slut Chloe get what's coming to them (The whole town knows that Chloe's got Onix's digging around your caves, pardon my innuendo – though we've all seen the guys getting in through HER window, Ooooh!)

The Clefairy were not doing anything wrong until the reality stars disturbed them, telling their stars to chip off bits of the stone. When they tried to do this, than the Clefairy, who had been as sweet and happy as dancing candy floss, turned nasty and become EEEEVIIIIIL! They began using Metronome and tried to kill us, one of them knocking me, Paige and Darwin off the side, and if it wasn't for Darwin's Mankeyness, we would have died. We returned to the top and proceeded to run away with Sandy, as that seemed smart, only to find more Clefairy down the tunnel who were happy to waggle their fingers like there was no tomorrow.

I was getting pretty peeved off at this point, let me tell you, and I was quite tempted to just give up and go away, but than I saw a shining orange light: a Paras! I can imagine some of you cringing a bit at the thought of a Paras: they are not pretty, they smell funny, they have too many weaknesses, they don't match my handbag. Well, I don't care. I love Paras so much: they are very cute and very quirky little Pokemon in my opinion, and they come with free mushrooms (some Paras do a 2 for 1 deal sometimes – cheapskates!) This Paras seemed afraid of me, but more afraid of the Clefairy and sprayed them with a Stun Spore of Doom! The Clefairy were indeed paralyzed, which was nice, and it allowed us to break through when Amanda came running down the tunnel with all the Clefairy following after.

The thing that happened next is the single vilest thing I have ever seen happen in my life. I have seen people get picked on cruelly, Pokemon getting abused, seen murder and war on the news, but this was just… disgusting.

Amanda commanded her Arbok to use Earthquake on the tunnel, causing it to collapse. The Clefairy in there were crushed and killed, and I was ready to crush and kill that selfish bitch. This was the most inhumane way of stopping the Clefairy. I know battling and defeating them and leaving them unconscious isn't the best way of dealing with Pokemon whose habitats we have invaded, but it is better than simply killing them. I am all for the rights of wild Pokemon, and usually do my best not to disturb them when I go through. To casually kill an entire group of Clefairy is just wrong. The Clefairy were not the ones at fault – it was Amanda and her reality stars that angered them, and they are the ones who should be punished.

I left without saying a word to them, and officially caught the scared little Paras, now Frances, shortly after that. She is now part of the team, and it seems that I have also caught a Sandy as well. I don't mind getting a travelling companion, and I must admit that it will be nice to have someone to train with, to talk to that can reply in English (I can never tell the difference between "Pidgey Pidge Otto" and "Otto Pidge Pidgey"), and possibly get her to cook for me because I can't even cook popcorn without stuffing it up.

But than Sandy decided to do something that led to my second bad experience for the week: she wanted to go looking for fossils. I was wary of straying further into the mountain, but was drowned by her protests and the fact she was already running off. And than I remembered Pewter Museum… you all remember, right? I'll give you a moment …. Same page? Good. So I thought it would be interesting to see if there were any fossils here, and maybe I could get rid of them before some one else appears and tries to use them for diabolical schemes.

But as it turned out, that someone was already there and already diabolically scheming.

Gideon was pleasant but sadistic as he had been last time, and was apparently struggling to find the fossils. I simply wanted to get this all over with: I am meant to be collecting badges, not collecting injuries and a long list of psycho enemies. So of course Paige and Darwin fought his Electrode, with help from Sandy's Butterfree and later her Onix, who was a bit of a show stopper (I can see a career in the West End of Celadon City for this one ) Gideon was going to give up, but than I did the foolish thing… I answered back. I told him I would just get them once he left, and he warned me once again about this game I was in. He then had his Electrode fly towards my head, and only a powerful Metal Claw from Paras sent him flying and smashing through a hole in the wall, which, of course, revealed the fossils! I went running towards them along with everyone else, but than another robot appeared.

You read right, and I bet most of you have won some bets about wheter that would happen again. This one was a Golem we originally mistook for a boulder, and it began a powerful fight with Onix, and I was forced to leave Gideon and flee for my life. We only learnt Golem was a robot when Onix smashed him to the ground and, guess what, it exploded! It seems that lots of things explode around me, which is a bit of frightening thought, and this was a pretty hot, powerful blast, just like when a – I shan't finish this, I believe this blog is T rated. But after the blast, I looked up and swore very very loudly, because Gideon was gone and the fossils were gone – brilliant.

Did I do the right thing in fleeing from Onix and Golem? Should I have told him I would fight him back? If I hadn't been so rash to get him off my back and move on with my journey, maybe he wouldn't have escaped… Im not sure… I just want to put all of this behind me and focus on my journey, but I am not sure if I can, especially now that this Golem Bot appeared. This thing was sent to try and kill us, I am sure of that, as it had no other reason being there and did attack Onix. I need to find some answers and I need to get this weight off my back, just so I can get a move on and focus on the things that are more important.

I need to focus back on my training. Darwin has shown his strong and his ability to fight, but I need to get his anger under control and keep him focused on battling properly rather than flipping out. I get the feeling sometimes that he doesn't like me, so I am going to have to train him up to trust me more. Frances has also shown amazing powers, but I think she is far too afraid of things to be good in battles. She will be an asset come time to face off with the Admiral Ginge aka Misty, the Water type gym leader, so I must work on her skills. Paige is doing just fine, but some new moves and some more training won't harm her much either.

I will bring more tales of laughter and explosions after the gym battle. Hopefully no one tries to kill me before than, as I just got a new shirt and I don't really want to wash blood out of it. I must find someone and tell them about Gideon getting the fossils, and maybe they can deal with it instead – Im a Pokemon Trainer, not CSI.

Until next time, stay safe and stay out of caves,

Alaska 'Still in One Piece' Acevedo.

PS. I have the feeling someone or something is watching me. I was asleep last night and heard a twig snap, and when I stared out of the tent, I saw a figure moving away. I still don't know who gave me that warning back in the Beedrill nest, but that's just another thing Im going to have to find out, isn't it?

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Blog Five

@WinterVines@Alaskapigeon

Interlude Four: Two Sides of the Same Coin

Wreckage lay all around, and Buzz Bolton was not impressed.

He stared at the ruined pieces of the Golem Bot, from the large metal chunks that made up the segmented body to an arm that still appeared to be sizzling slightly. Several men were gathering the pieces onto trolleys and burning them, and would then take the ashes back to Silph Co. with them and store them away at the very back of their storage facilities, preferably inside something else so they would never be found. If the two robots were linked back to Buzz, than the show would be ruined and the plan he had been forming for the past five years would go up in smoke.

Buzz was walking in silence, a calm expression on his face even though his hands were balled up by his sides. Only a few feet away stood Amanda Anderson, who was almost shaking in nervousness. She appeared to be trying to keep her cool, with her hair tied back and nicely dressed as always, but her thin lips were quivering slightly and her eyes were constantly twitching. Anyone watching this scene would think she was overreacting, as Buzz appeared calm and relaxed, no visible signs of violence.

"Cro Cro Cro," a sudden screech sounded, and Buzz paused and looked calmly up as a purple Crobat came flying down from the darkness. Portable lamps were lighting the clean up mission, and Crobat was soon perfectly visible, all four wings flapping furiously to keep him afloat.

"Yes?" Buzz asked pleasantly, and Amanda began to shake more, getting more nervous. The Crobat shook his head, and Buzz nodded. "Very well then," he said and turned towards Amanda. His demeanour changed as if a flip had been switched: his face twisted in rage and he marched forwards on the unstable ground and slapped the producer on the cheek, causing her to scream and collapse to the ground. "HOW COULD YOU HAVE BEEN SO FOOLISH?" He hissed, no longer keeping his rage under control as no one else was around. Amanda was sobbing pathetically, clutching her face and trying to avoid his glare.

"I am sorry… I didn't expect that happen, none of us did!" She cried, but Buzz angrily lashed out again, kicking small stones and dust towards her.

"Not good enough, and don't try and drag me down with you!" He hissed. "We were meant to be tracking her, she should never had gone into that tunnel. And you were the one who thought the Moon Stone Challenge would be a good idea!" Amanda continued to sob, and Buzz looked away in disgust. The men clearing away Golem had been watching in shock but quickly made out to be working busily. Buzz did not usually get angry, but lately he was being pushed to his limits, unable to control his rage as his perfectly laid out plan began to be crushed.

"What do our stars think of what happened?" He asked, and Amanda managed to control her sobbing, wiping away tears but remained on the floor.

"They were shocked at first, but they are easily distracted. Lachlan captured a Geodude and Chloe a Clefairy, and then we did another challenge we was easy enough to take their minds off things," Amanda said in her usual brisk manner, but than she paused for too long and Buzz turned back around, giving her a quizzical glare. "Well… Chloe and Lachlan seem to have forgotten, but I am not sure about Damian…"

"DAMNIT! Just what we need!" Buzz hissed, kicking out at some rocks. "I knew he was too smart and intuitive when we selected him. When couldn't we have gotten three bimbos and stuck them together?"

"The test audiences didn't respond to the idea – they said there are already enough morons on our channel to deal with," Amanda replied, sounding as if she had a cold. Buzz looked down at her, their eyes meeting for several moments, and than they both began to laugh. Their laughter slowly increased, echoing around the cave and startling the cleaning men. Their laughter was not full of joy though: Amanda's sounded almost robotic, while Buzz's was deep and cruel. He collapsed down next to her and clutched her hands in his tightly, still laughing though his eyes stayed blank.

"Ah… we have certainly produced a lot of crap over these past few years, haven't we?" He said with a sigh, and Amanda nodded, the violence moments before fading from memory. "But it was all worth it, wasn't it? We wouldn't be here today if we hadn't made all those shows, and we wouldn't be one step closer to getting revenge." Amanda simply nodded along, her eyes still showing her nervousness, fearful that Buzz might erupt again at any moment. But the fit, tanned man leaned forwards and kissed her on her lips, both wearing an expression that seemed to resemble someone doing something entirely unpleasant, little passion coming from them.

"Make sure there are no more stuff ups," Buzz growled as he backed away, and Amanda nodded obediently.

"I don't think she will be coming back near us, she seemed very revolted by the Clefairy's deaths," she said, and Buzz nodded as he got to his feet.

"Stay here and watch over the men, then return to the stars and get them to Cerulean City," he commanded without looking at her. "I will burn the tapes with Alaska in them. Whatever views she posts on that blog will be made redundant due to lack of any actual evidence. And if that bitch comes near you in Cerulean, than tie cement blocks to her feet and throw her in the lake. I don't want to hear her name ever again." Amanda nodded and got back to her feet, putting the slap behind her. Buzz walked slowly away with Crobat fluttering above him, not saying goodbye to Amanda or the cleaning men. He would return to Saffron City, he would wait for the stars to venture further onwards, and nothing else would interrupt their plans for this.

In a few weeks, the reality stars would arrive at the Indigo League, one of them will get Buzz and Amanda to the Champion's Stadium, and than they will kill Red and get their revenge five years in the making.

The only thing that could stop them now was Alaska.



Senior Inspector Arthur Reynolds was not in the mood.

It was the eve of his retirement, the end of thirty six years of service. A big party was being planned in his honour, and he heard rumours of a special gift coming his way. Arthur was not one for parties, and was simply looking forward to his career ending. He was done with seeing dead bodies and weeping family members, tired of going to court and recount the grizzly details of the many crimes he had seen. Arthur just wanted to go home with his loyal Arcanine, who was getting on his last legs since he had gotten him as a Growlithe twenty eight years ago, and read for the rest of his days and put the bad memories aside.

Unfortunately, one last grizzly crime had come up.

Arthur had been back to the Chrono Island area since that faithful day in 2008, but he had never experienced a crime as large as the one on September 7th: the explosion that had caused a forest fire and cleared an entire area. Arthur Reynolds had temporarily retired due to his frustration over the case, but he had returned afterwards to find the case had been closed. They had never worked out who or what had caused the explosion, and the area had been turned into new housing to help with the number of people arriving at Sevii. It still annoyed Arthur that it had never been solved, and to return here was just a punch in the guts so near the end of his career.

There were no blazes here today. A serial killer seemed to be striking the area, using powerful blasts of energy to leave many people from the housing estates, ranging from two six year old boys to a woman in her late seventies, found dead amongst her groceries. A Pokemon was suspected of the attacks, but Arthur had learnt one thing about Pokemon during his time as an officer: though some could be savage, they never harmed humans as severely as this. And Arthur had reviewed some of the autopsy photos on the boat ride here, and the amount of energy used would have had to be have been specially built up, the Pokemon trained to murder.

The latest woman was a father, the right side of his chest found two metres away from his body. As Arthur stepped unwillingly towards the crime scene, he could see a trio of young, handsome cops were keeping the curious and scared residents away from the scene. Givethemafewyears… theywon'tlooksoprettythen, Arthur thought grouchily as the yellow tape was lifted and he moved forwards.

"What seems to be the case – same as the others?" Arthur called out to the group around the body. Two detectives in their mid forties and the head photographer were there, and looked stunned to see Arthur.

"Who was the fool that sent you here on your last night?" The photographer, Toby, said, and Arthur merely shrugged.

"I don't mind: I'll be dumping this case to whoever is the last person standing by the door on my way out tomorrow," he replied, and the three laughed. "I might as well put some of my experience to good use to get this going. Not going to be too useful when I'm at home watching the soaps."

"You could always write a novel," one of the officers, Jack, said, and Arthur chuckled as he moved forwards. Seeing dead bodies was not a highlight of the job, but Arthur would miss his friends and the bonding experience that being a cop was. Arthur reflected on this as the cameras bulb flashed, illuminating the grizzly remains of the body. These murders were senseless and unnecessary, and Arthur was once again pleased to be leaving all the unnecessary deaths behind.

"So, ready to sprinkle some knowledge on this scene?" The other cop, Nathan, asked with a slight sense of joke in his voice. Arthur nodded and began to walk around, sliding gloves on to not incriminate anything and keeping his eyes peeled for anything. There were footsteps around and he made sure not to step on them in case they were connected to the killer. There were no visible signs of anything that could be connected to it, and the body did not appear to have been involved in a struggle from the surprised look on his face. Whoever had ordered the blast was fast and knew what they were doing, and had killed an innocent man for no apparent reason. Arthur was getting annoyed, déjà vu washing over him, staring around a serious crime scene but nothing to give him any hints…

That was when it struck him.

"This was where that building explosion was, wasn't it?" Arthur called out, and turned to see Jack and Nathan nodding. Arthur felt satisfied but at the same time harbouring dark emotions about what had happened here. He could recognise the sea view he had seen all the times he had come back here, hoping to find new evidence. These two cases must be connected somehow… it was unlikely, but Arthur had a feeling.

"The serial killer may be connected to the explosion," Arthur said, turning back towards his colleagues. "The warehouse was right around where I am currently standing. This could be some sort of revenge possibly…" He paused as he saw the looks his fellow cops exchanged, and Arthur's brows narrowed. "What is that look for?" Jack and Nathan seemed nervous and didn't want to come forwards, but Toby suddenly got to his feet and stepped forwards.

"Arthur, we all know you're retiring with a near perfect record," the photographer began, "and we know that not solving that explosion case was a real pain to you. But you can't just try and solve it now when you're finishing in less than twenty four hours!" Arthur was angry, and he suddenly swung a fist that narrowly missed. Jack and Nathan run forwards as Toby stepped backwards, none of them ever seeing Arthur look this mad.

"HOW DARE YOU!" He roared, his fists clenched up as the scene fell silent, all eyes turning towards them. Arthur had not been this angry for years, and knew leaving on a sour note would not look good, but he didn't care. The explosion had ruined an otherwise spotless career and nearly destroyed his life as he tried to find clues out of nowhere, tried endlessly to find answers from ash and rubble. But he had never tried to rashly connect that case to another, simply to calm his own mind.

"ANSWER ME! HOW DARE YOU ACCUSE ME OF SOMETHING SO AWFUL!" Arthur shouted, stamping his foot against the ground. "I AM A GOOD COP! I KNOW WHAT I AM TALKING ABOUT! I AM NOT SOME OLD MAN TRYING TO MAKE MYSELF LOOK GOOD! IF YOU JUST LISTENED TO ME, THAN –,"

"Arthur," Jack said.

"SHUT IT!" Arthur roared back and stomped his foot again, not wishing to be interrupted. But as he stomped it a third time, the aging detective heard what was causing everyone to stare at the ground: a hollow thud, the kind you got when you knocked your hand against a wall with nothing behind it. Arthur stomped thrice more, and the echo occurred thrice more. He had surveyed this ground for years and had never found any traces of anything being underneath.

"Men, grab your guns!" Arthur commanded, putting his temper aside. The young officers ran forwards with powerful assault weapons, and Arthur pulled his own hand gun out. Jack and Nathan were in charge and moved around, leading the others as they kept stamping lightly, trying to find any clues. It didn't take long to see the ground shaking slightly in one area, and the men quickly advanced. Arthur could see on closer inspection that there was a slight gap around a square of earth, the grass on it looking different to that around. One of the officers grabbed the grass and heaved, pulling away to reveal a metal door in the ground.

"On my count," Jack whispered. In Arthur's day they would plan for hours how to do things properly and would storm a place with half the amount of weapons the men had today. But as Nathan quickly called for back up, Arthur could see that if they left now, whoever was in whatever was beneath could get away, and Arthur was looking forward to catching the criminal to outsmart him the longest.

"One… two… three… GO!" Jack shouted, and the trap door was heaved upwards. Guns were pointed down, but nobody appeared to be there. "POLICE, COME OUT WITH YOUR HANDS UP!" Jack roared. Arthur leant in closer to have a look, and they all got excited when they saw a figure move.

Finally… afteralltheseyears, Arthur thought, leaning in as the figure came closer, guns pointed towards it … finallyIcancatchthisbastard!The figure began ascending, the moon hidden behind clouds and the person remained in darkness. They were all pointing their weapons at him, ready to take him in, but no one expected what happened next.

The figure froze halfway up the stairs, and suddenly a silver ball rose up into the air. Everyone froze, staring at this device as if it had just fallen from space. But as they stared at it, rainbow lights flashed around it, and Arthur knew it wasn't good.

"RUN!" He cried and leapt backwards, just as the ball exploded. A white wave poured out of the device, stretching out across the field, the body, the entire crime scene including those watching. Arthur could feel it over him, touching his body, and shivered as it soaked silently over him. The detective had never seen anything like this before, and wondered if he could even retire after this…

"So, you're the famous Arthur Reynolds, aren't you?"

The voice sent disgust through Arthur's body, but he couldn't help but turn to face who had said it. A man was standing over him, with black hair and a tatty white coat that had not been cleaned in years. This man had a foul look on his face, and was staring down at Arthur as if he was the last man he wanted to see.

"Who are you?" Arthur asked as he frantically stared around. All the men seemed to be disorientated, and looking back at the crowds they all seemed to be stumbling around a bit as well. The man didn't respond, simply raising a black PokeBall up and pointing it towards Arthur.

"You've ruined things for me, just like how you nearly ruined them with your investigation," he hissed, and Arthur tried to back away but the scientist stepped down onto his bad right knee, making Arthur scream. "You are not going to hide from me. In fact, your not leaving this position ever again."

"Are you going to kill me?" Arthur asked weakly, feeling all his courage from years as a police officer disappearing.

"Yes, I am going to kill you, and I am going to kill every officer here," the man said. "All the people over there will remember is the cop who got angry shooting the others with a powerful rifle before blowing his own head off. What a pitiful way to end such a glorious career." The man smiled, laughter rising up. Arthur began to scream for help, fear consuming his body, and could only watch as the PokeBall opened up. A Pokemon unfamiliar to him appeared, and Arthur screamed at its sickening demented body as it absorbed energy together.

The last thing Arthur thought was the irony of being killed now, before the Hyper Beam was released and all he could see was white.


Look out for the next Interlude where what has happened in this one will be explained more. However, next time we begin the Cerulean City Arc.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Interlude Four

@Alaskapigeon@WinterVines

Last three chapters of the year starting with this one! The third will end with an interesting sort of cliffhanger to rival any soap opera ending

Chapter Twenty: Playing the Training Game

"ThunderPunch, go!"

"Psybeam, now!"

Darwin leapt forwards, his right fist glowing yellow with electricity. His legs and tails were once again acting like springs, helping me to leap across the grassy field at a brilliant speed. Alaska watched intently, hoping the training she done with this for several hours in nearby trees would finally pay off.

"FREEEE!" Butterfree cried, and rainbow circles were fired from her glowing eyes. The Psybeam came towards Darwin, but he did a spectacular jump and spun around in mid air, the attack soaring beneath him.

"MAN MAN!" He cried, and fell towards Butterfree. She tried to move, but Darwin's fist hit her in her abdomen and the two came crashing down. Darwin landed on the tail but drove Butterfree to the ground, electricity charging through her.

"I think that will be enough for now," Alaska said. Darwin looked over at her reluctantly, but he raised his fist and backed off, leaving Butterfree sparking on the ground. Sandy made a worried noise and rushed forwards, pulling several berries and Potion bottles from her bag and instantly getting to work. Darwin looked at Alaska, who smiled and gave an approving bow, which the Mankey willing responded to.

It had been two days since the exploding Golem and Gideon's escape, but Alaska was forcing herself not to dwell on things. What happens at the mount, stays at the mount was her summary of the matter, and she and Sandy proceeded onto Route 4. To ease things for them, Alaska splurged on some of the money she had won from Brock to get help from two Move Tutors they saw training nearby. With some assistance from them, Paige added Aerial Ace to her arsenal, Darwin learnt ThunderPunch and Assurance and Butterfree gained Signal Beam and Psybeam. They were now spending most of their time training their Pokemon up, Gideon's Electrode and the overwhelming Clefairy a bit of a wake up call towards challenges they could face.

Alaska also wanted to get ready for her gym battle with Misty at the Cerulean Gym. Though they were currently on Route 4, where huge mountain peaks contrasted oddly with the many rows of trees and expansive fields of grass moving down the uneven slopes, Cerulean City was only a short way away, and Alaska wanted to be more prepared this time: if Misty tried to send her backing, someone was going to end up in the water, and it wouldn't be Alaska.

"Darwin definitely packs a punch," Sandy said as she picked Butterfree up, who was gaining back strength.

"I'd certainly hope so: we have spent ages training, haven't we?" Alaska replied, and smiled down at Darwin, who was simply chopping and punching the air and flexing his muscles, ignoring her. Alaska rolled her eyes and looked to the sky, where Paige was circling above them. "You can come down now!"

"Pidgey Pidge," Paige called and quickly soared down and landed smoothly onto the grass. Frances was on her back, one claw tightly holding onto Paige's feathers and the other covering her eyes, shaking slightly at the short trip into the skies.

"Was that not fun?" Alaska asked, and Frances shook her entire body fearfully before leaping onto Alaska's shoulders and burrowing her face into her shoulders. Alaska sighed and gave her a soothing pat. "I was hoping you would be able to take part in Cerulean, but if you're still too nervous, Paige and Darwin will handle it." Paige and Darwin both nodded, and Alaska smiled down at them before staring back at her shaky Paras. She had shown great power when she struck Electrode, and Alaska just hoped they would be able to work through it and build her strength up.

"Do you want to do any more training?" Sandy said as she continued to feed Butterfree berries. "Onix could really do with some –,"

"NO!" Alaska blurted, joined by a loud 'PIDGE' from Paige, and Sandy looked rather shocked. "I mean… I think we've got our moves sorted… Besides, I don't want to tire any of them out before the gym match."

"Oh, alright," Sandy said brightly. She let go of Butterfree, who quickly fluttered up into the sky, fully healed and looking bright. "If you're ready, should we head into the city then?" Alaska hadn't expected to be heading off so soon, but now that Sandy had said it, she could see there was not much pointing lingering around with nothing to do: her Pokemon were ready for it, and she knew that they could do a good job.

"I think that sounds like a swimmingly good idea," Alaska said, and she began walking, but Sandy had suddenly begun to laugh. She was giggling hysterically, and Alaska stared down at Paige, who looked just as confused as she did. "What's so funny?"

"You said… swimming… ly! And it's… a Water gym!" Sandy said, clutching her sides and looking as if she was about to roll onto the grass laughing. Alaska simply smiled and forced a laugh out, not wanting to upset her, but continued walking when Sandy continued to laugh for another two minutes. However, Sandy soon caught up, and she walked alongside Alaska with Frances still on her shoulder, while Darwin swung through the trees and Paige and Butterfree flew overhead. The day was gorgeous, and a gentle, soothing breeze blew through the route. Alaska enjoyed being in this very green route after their time spent underground, and savoured staring at the picturesque trees and then the glistening blue river that led towards Cerulean.

"Oooh, look, look!" Sandy blurted out after ten minutes of silence, and Alaska stared towards where she was pointing. An almost perfect semi-circular gap was in the mountain on the opposite side of the river, which was beginning to grow as it led towards the Cerulean Lake.

"Is there something special about that hole?" Alaska asked, not seeing why Sandy was getting so excited about things. The blonde haired girl sighed and gave Alaska a rather judging look.

"It's the Cerulean Cave," she explained in an exasperated voice. "Many powerful Pokemon live there that you won't find anywhere else, and it is said that the further you go into the cave, you will feel a powerful force getting stronger and stronger, as if it is trying to push you back." Alaska stared towards the dark hole, wondering what secrets were hidden within and what this powerful force was.

No doubt it's some fossilized, Clefairy fuelled robot Alaska thought bitterly, and turned away from it, keeping to her decision to focus only on her journey and try to ignore anything else that came her way. Sandy, however, kept turning back to stare at it, even when the grass thinned away into bare ground, and the towering trees were replaced with small houses.

"Is that why you're travelling?" Alaska asked once Sandy had turned back around for the umpteenth time. "Just taking in the sights, enjoying the view, that sort of thing?" Sandy seemed surprised by the question, but Alaska was generally interested: if Sandy wasn't doing gym battles or anything like that, there had to be a reason why she had embarked on this journey in the first place.

"I've just always wanted to travel," Sandy replied quickly, wearing a smile on her face that didn't match the expression in her eyes. "Butterfree and I just decided we would go travelling a few months ago. We haven't really gotten that far though, but now that we're travelling with you, hopefully we'll see something some more sights!" Alaska smiled and nodded, but she could tell by Sandy's expression and her voice she was lying: her eyes looked nervous at the question Alaska had asked, and her voice was quivering slightly, going high pitched. The group continued to walk in silence, but Alaska couldn't help but wonder what Sandy was keeping from her, and why she felt the need to hide it from her.



Cerulean City was a much grander city than Pewter. It was much bigger for one thing, though it didn't had the air of being a coastal, holiday town to escape to. There were many more houses, but most of them were one storey and painted bright, calming colours. The roads were long and wide, and the businesses seemed to blend in to one another, including a bicycle shop that only stood out due to a large bike on its roof.

The main attraction, though, was the Cerulean Lake. It was about the same size of the city, though was a sparkling blue that lit up the area surrounding. Mt Moon to the left looked stunning, and the trees and surrounding grass made for a picture perfect scene. A dazzling golden bridge stretched from one side of the lake to the other, ruining the entire blue look but it still dazzled brilliantly.

Alaska thought the city was magnificent: it was much calmer than Viridian or Pewter, and it almost seemed happier. She and Sandy went and got their Pokemon topped up at the Pokemon Center, and everyone they dealt with was very friendly and kind to them. Alaska remembered how it had been crowded in Pewter, and she definitely preferred travelling through here, and everyone was very helpful in guiding them towards the Cerulean Gym, located next to the lake. Alaska and Sandy went straight there after their Pokemon had healed, and Sandy seemed more excited about going to the gym that Alaska was: she was just focused on getting this battle crossed off and moving on, getting closer to her goals and winning.

The Cerulean Gym instantly gave off the impression of being a water type gym. Not only was it situated in front of the lake, but the building was made entirely out of blue reflective glass that only gave distorted images of the world inside, much like viewing something underwater. It was quite a pretty gym, stretching out in front of Alaska and confirming thoughts that a pool would be located within.

"This building is sooooo cool!" Sandy said, shaking with excitement. Alaska did have to admit it was quite impressive, and wondered if this eloquent piece of urban design was revealing more of Misty to her: flash, stylish, very impressive, and possibly going to give Alaska a run for her money.

"Well, let's just get in and scope the place out," Alaska said, walking forwards. "There is bound to be some sort of challenge within, based on what Brock set me back in Pewter."

"Can you swim, maybe it'll have something to do with that?" Sandy said excitedly, and Alaska turned to reply, wondering if it was try. However, she wasn't focusing on the doors, and it wasn't until too late that she realised they weren't parting for her and walked straight into them.

"DAMNIT!" Alaska growled, stumbling backwards into Sandy and nearly falling to the ground. She felt her left cheek stinging with pain, and, remembering her trip through the sand, wondered if all gym leaders were trying to harm her. While Sandy gasped dramatically, someone suddenly began to laugh. Alaska looked around, wondering if her thoughts that someone following her were coming true, but than the voice spoke.

"One should always watch where they are going," a familiar voice said, and Alaska instantly recognised it as at the disembodied robotic voice that had spoken at Pewter Gym. Sandy shrieked at the sound, but Alaska simply looked at the glass, wondering where the voice was coming from.

"Do you talk to all the trainers or do you just annoy me?" She asked, the voice laughed again, making Alaska scowl. "When didn't the doors part for me?"

"Maybe there's another way in. Why don't you try diving into the lake and see if you shoot out through the water in the pool?" Alaska scowled again as the voice continued to laugh at her, and she was tempted to send Darwin out and have him break the doors down.

"Unless you want me to break in and reprogram you, let me!" Alaska growled.

"Oh honey, you may be nifty from a blog, but that doesn't make you a tech whiz," the voice said dryly, and Alaska was taken aback by this comment: how did this computer voice know about her blog? "I see I've startled you, how fun! You dwell on things for a while and let's see if Misty returns from her date with that swimsuit model."

"Is that why the gym is closed?" Sandy asked, not as interested in the blog comment as Alaska was. "That's a bit selfish of her! She is meant to be a gym leader, not carting off around town on dates like some cheap scarlet woman!" Alaska was confused by the mention of her blog, but hearing Sandy say 'scarlet woman' caused her to burst out laughing. "Where is she?"

"The scarlet woman is currently at Cerulean Cape at the end of Route 25," the voice said, "though I wouldn't disturb her if I was you."

"Well you're not me, are you?" Sandy huffed, as she grabbed the still laughing Alaska and marched her away. They had walked past the gym and were heading towards the open space of grass and dirt that led to the lake and its golden bridge before Alaska managed to stop herself from laughing.

"You heard what the robot computer thing said," she told the fuming Sandy, "and I don't really want the leader of my next gym challenge to be pissy with me."

"Well, this Misty woman should not be so darn selfish than, should she?" Sandy grumbled. "I don't like people that keep others waiting for their own selfish needs! She is a gym leader and should be ready to gym lead at any time!" Alaska could see Sandy's point, and now that she was over her hysterics and pushed her questions about the blog and the voice behind her, she did want to get a bit lippy with Misty, and marched forwards alongside Sandy, ready to find Misty.

However, it seemed they were going to be held up.

As the two girls stepped foot onto the golden bridge, which had a small plaque alongside saying 'The Nugget Bridge – Reopened 2008', they instantly froze. Sandy looked nervously across at Alaska, who was clutching onto the golden sides next to her, either as support or trying to tear it off and use it as a weapon for the hideous sight in front of them.

The reality stars were once again in front of them


Don't worry: the next chapter will stray away from the usual reality star bit, so hopefully no one will groan that they are back again

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Chapter 20

@Alaskapigeon@WinterVines

Second to last chapter of the year! I hope you enjoy

Chapter Twenty One: A Bitch on a Bridge

"Are you going to be alright?"

Alaska smirked as Sandy finished speaking, listening to the six words that uttered from her mouth: Are you going to be alright? Alaska stared towards the people in front of her, being filmed as they dunked fishing poles into the water, and she dwelled over the question. She did want to charge forwards and ram a fishing pole down Chloe's throats, but that was a more broad thought. Staring at Amanda as she walked between them with her eyes on a stopwatch, Alaska realised that she was the one who really deserved to be punished. A feeling of rage burned through Alaska that she had never felt before. She wanted to see Amanda suffer, hurt her, just like she hurt the Clefairy…

But this went entirely against Alaska's new found promise. She was not going to get involved in any dramas that were not related to her becoming the best. The only thought she should be sparing to them was how, in the end, Alaska would have defeated Red before them and they would have no choice but to go up against her.

"I think I'll be fine," Alaska said chirpily, and began walking forwards once more. "Let's just focus on finding Misty. That's the only reason we're crossing this bridge, isn't it?" We're just going to find Misty, ok?" Alaska growled through gritted teeth, and Sandy simply smiled and nodded alongside.

"Finding Misty, right," she said, and the two girls walked determinedly forwards. The people all seemed too focused on whatever their current task was to notice them, and Alaska was certain for a second they would slip past unnoticed. But Amanda suddenly turned around, mouth open to say something, but it dropped further when she saw who it was. Damian suddenly looked up as well, his pole loosening in his hand.

"Alaska…," he said simply, and Alaska avoided his eye, but only to find Chloe turned around with such speed and with such a foul look on her face you'd think someone had just called her fat.

"Well, well, well… are you sure you should be on this bridge?" She hissed. "I heard gold melted whenever a poor person touched it."

"Really? That's fascinating," Alaska said with a false smile and kept on walking, shoving past Amanda and letting her feet carry her away. The camera crew quickly parted as well, and Alaska eyed the green fields on the other side, wondering where they would go to find Misty.

"Running away are you?" Chloe called out. "Lost all that courage and determination? Won't you even stay for a battle?"

"If I stayed to battle you Chloe it would only last a second, so piss off," Alaska called back, and Chloe's laughter followed after her.

"Really? Don't you want to see my new Pokemon?" There was the distinctive sound of energy gushing from a PokeBall, and Alaska found herself pausing, curiosity unfortunately getting the better of her. Sandy stopped in front of her, glancing behind and looking shocked, but as she opened her mouth to warn her, Alaska turned around.

It was a Clefairy.

What a cruel joke it was, staring down at the pink, fairy like Pokemon standing before Chloe. The blonde was laughing her face off, and even Amanda was cracking a smile, staring across at Alaska with a sort of sick pleasure. Alaska felt like turning away, never to see them again. She felt like running forwards and punching them all in the face. But she knew why Amanda was smiling, why she wasn't trying to send Alaska away: it was a test. They were going to see if they could break Alaska, rule her out as a threat that could keep ruining their show. Alaska wanted to punch them but could also see what a smart move it was.

"You don't have to do this," Sandy whispered, but Alaska reached into her pocket and pulled a PokeBall out. She did have to do this. She wanted to make sure they feared her and stayed out of her way, not the other way around: she hadn't asked to get involve in any of this, but they kept dragging her in.

"Bring it," Alaska growled and dropped the PokeBall. It wasn't until too late she realised it was in fact a Great Ball, and it wasn't until Frances formed that Alaska cursed under her breath.

"Para?" Frances said, turning around in fright, and Chloe and Amanda continued to laugh, making Frances back away. Lachlan remained on the sides, clearly not side to take on this matter, but Damian was walking up to Chloe.

"You don't have to do this," he hissed to her, but Chloe just laughed.

"I want to see what Avocado is truly made of!" She cackled, and Alaska felt like throwing her into the ocean. She got down on her knees and looked at Frances, who was quivering in fear from the Clefairy.

"I know you haven't been in a battle before, but if you pull through this, I won't send you into one again until your ready, okay?" Alaska said softly. Frances looked at the Clefairy, possibly remembering the mass that had stormed towards her at Mt Moon. She nodded, though it was possibly just her body shaking, but Alaska accepted it. Chloe stopped laughing once Alaska got back up, and as the two girls stared at each other furiously, Alaska was certain Frances would battle her hardest.

"POUND!" Chloe shouted.

"Stun Spore from close range, go," Alaska said. Clefairy ran forwards, still smiling in a rather sickening fashion, and leapt up a fist raised high. Frances stared up in shock and released the yellow spores from her mushrooms.

"Fairy," Clefairy said and spun to avoid them, though crashed against the supports, ending her move. The two Pokemon were near each other now, and Frances back away to the opposite side.

"Magical Leaf!" Chloe commanded.

"Leech Life," Alaska called, hoping a Special move would be better for her. Clefairy waved her arms into the air, which glowed a bright green, and suddenly leaves were fired from them. Frances backed away to try and avoid them, but there was no chance of dodging a Magical Leaf and they battered into her.

"PAR PAR!" Frances groaned, and fired a lime green needle from her claws at Clefairy. It struck her in the stomach and suddenly began to drain energy from her body. Clefairy collapsed to the ground, weakened by the loss of energy, and Alaska could see that Chloe was becoming frustrated with the battle.

"Use another Pound, end this!" She yelled. Alaska was not sure if Frances could survive a Pound or not, and knew that they needed to unlock the amazing power she had possessed back against Electrode.

"Hit her with Metal Claw, just like at Mt Moon!" Alaska commanded. Clefairy was already running forwards, fists raised, and jumped up once again. Frances stared fearfully up at her, and Alaska wasn't sure what she was going to do: would she turn and run away, take the attack, or manage to fight back?

"PARAAAAAS!" Frances cried, her right claw glowing silver, and she swung it as Clefairy came closer. Everyone watched in surprise as Clefairy was sent rocketing down the bridge, nearly bowling Chloe over, and crashed and rolled into the wood. Amanda's jaw dropped once more, Chloe looked murderous, but Alaska felt a warm, satisfied feeling flow through her body.

"That was brilliant Frances!" Alaska boomed, and the Paras nervously nodded, a slight smile crossing her face. Damian and Lachlan were both staring at Frances in shock, and the cameraman was exchanging shots between a disappointed Chloe and a smug looking Alaska.

"Are we quite done here?" Sandy said behind her, and Alaska couldn't help but laugh as she turned around to face her friend. She nodded and turned back to scoop up Frances, waving happily at the stars, savouring this victory.

"Come on than Sandy, let's get going," Alaska said, and turned back around.

In that split second, that was when she saw it.

It had happened so fast, Alaska thought she had imagined it. But a figure clad in black had been watching her from a small forest on the next route. The figure disappeared as soon as Alaska saw them, and she knew she had to follow after. Alaska began walking without explanation, ignoring protesting shouts from Chloe and questions from Sandy, and simply walked. The last time she had followed a black, shadowy figure had not ended so well, but Alaska had a feeling that this was different, that whoever this person was they were important. The robotic voice in the Beedrill's nest and the fact she was certain someone had been watching her somehow tied in to whoever was now in the forest, and Alaska kept on walking.

Things seemed to happen in a blur as her mind and legs moved quickly: one moment Alaska was still on the dazzling Nugget Bridge, the next she was in a field of grass that reached her knees. The forest looked dark and intimidating, but Alaska simply dived into it, her mind focused on finding this figure.

Instantly there were in near darkness, and Frances began to shake with fear. Alaska soothingly patted her as she turned around, every tree identical, the floor scattered with natural debris that had no footprints. There was a thumping sound and Alaska turned expectedly, but only found Sandy falling between some trees, looking red in the face and rather annoyed.

"What are you doing?" She puffed. "We are meant to be finding Misty! Is this the way to Cerulean Cape?" Alaska wasn't sure if she should divulge her true intentions to Sandy, and had actually forgotten all about Misty. However, she heard something crack up above and turned, something definitely moving in the darkness.

"Yes, it's a shortcut," Alaska said, and began power walking once more. Sandy had to jog in order to catch up, not putting together that Alaska was simply following the sounds of cracking twigs and shuffling feet, occasionally catching glimpses of the dark figure as she navigated the tricky maze of trees.

This better be worth something… Alaska thought bitterly as a pain rose up in her side, wondering if following aimlessly after a random figure in the trees was an intelligent move after all. However, as they rounded what felt like the fiftieth bend, Alaska could see light shining brightly up ahead: the exit from this maze.

"Finally!" Alaska and Sandy said simultaneously, both sounding rather winded, and they burst out into the bright light. It seemed as if the forest was just a mild break in the routes, as this new area looked almost exactly the same: a wide field of green grass that could have stretched on forever. This area was rather bare: a single house was built between rows of trees, and two ponds were twenty metres away. The way back to the city, according to a sign, involved either a hike up a grassy hill, going back through the forest or walking a narrow path along the side of the hill and next to the lake. Alaska was not going back until she could find this figure, but as she wheeled around, she realised that no one seemed to be around. No black figures sticking out against the green and blue, no one waving to her whilst folding a large file titled JUICY SECRETS… nothing. It seemed that this trek had been a waste, which Alaska was about to say to Sandy when her friend cried out.

"Look, there she is!" Sandy cried, pointing forwards. Alaska turned curiously around, wondering what she was on about, but than saw it: a head of fiery red hair on the top of a hill. They had found Misty, and Alaska checked the sign again to see that it did indeed say 'Cerulean Cape'.

"Shall we go and say hello?" Sandy said grumpily, still angry with the gym leader. Alaska sighed and nodded, deciding to forget about the strange shadowy figure for now. As Sandy went storming off, Alaska took a deep breath and cleared her head, putting her attention back towards gym leaders and battles and Pokemon. She then hurried after Sandy and groaned at having to walk up the hill, beginning to feel puffed from her chasing after the figure.

"OI, MISTY!" Sandy cried out, her usual airy voice replaced with something loud and grumpy. Misty turned around, looking rather shocked and confused, and Alaska got her first look at her: slim, young, possibly only a few years older than her. She was wearing a light blue dress that flowed down to her knees and complimented her ginger hair nicely. After seeing Brock and his rather determined face, Alaska didn't think Misty quite looked like a gym leader, but thought this was probably just due to her date.

"What do you want?" Misty asked, giving Sandy and Alaska a curious look. Her handsome blonde date looked rather confused as well, and Alaska now felt a bit guilty for interrupting things, and knew it wouldn't play well for her in at the gym.

"My friend here arrived at your gym for a battle," Sandy explained angrily, "only to find you had gone off on some date, leaving a rather mean voice to guard your gym! I think that is disgraceful gym leadership, and I demand you battle my friend at once!" Misty's eyes narrowed and she looked between Alaska and Sandy, her beautiful face slowly getting much angrier.

"I am allowed a personal life, alright?" Misty snapped, advancing forwards and wagging a finger at Sandy. "I don't need someone's cheer squad to come and bother me into battling! I'll be one more hour, than I'll be back at my gym, okay?"

"That seems fair enough," Sandy said, "but it's still not good leadership!" Misty was looking angry and Alaska stepped forwards to say something, but Misty simply turned around to face her.

"What's your name?"

"Oh, Alaska. I didn't mean to –,"

"I will see you for a two on two battle at my gym in one hour, alright?" Misty growled, and Alaska nodded. The gym leader grabbed her date's hand and stormed off, muttering in a carrying whisper about having to deal with annoying challengers. Alaska sighed and flopped down to the grass, allowing Frances to scuttle down and settle down herself.

"Just what I need: a leader to be pissy with me," she sighed, and stared out to the ocean. It was a dazzling blue that looked so cool and inviting, and Alaska was tempted to leap over the cliff and into the waters below, washing all her dramas away and simply swim, wondering if one of the other regions would be less dramaful.

"Sorry… I didn't mean to get her angry with you," Sandy said. Alaska nodded and smiled up at her, and Sandy smiled back, sitting down next to her. "Well, we have an hour to kill… want to get some last minute training in?" Alaska laughed and fell backwards into the grass, shutting her eyes.

"Frankly, I would rather just have a little break," she said. "There is too much drama in my life: maybe if I simply sit still, no one will try to kill me or get me involved in anything. I am just going to sit here and wait for that battle, and hope nothing interrupts me before then..."

"ALASKA!"

"Fuck."

"Is that –?"

"Yes… it's him," Alaska growled. She simply paused, wondering if the voice had been in her head or simply a particularly high pitched gust of wind. But when she opened her eyes, Alaska was disappointed and a little frightened to see Mitchell standing over her, his smile wide and eager as always. She wondered if he was going to challenge her to a battle, or if his Pokemon had fallen into a giant pond of robotic Magikarp, but what her old neighbour actually said was one of the most interesting things she'd heard all week.

"You have to come with me now. Bill wants to see you."

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Chapter 21

@WinterVines@Alaskapigeon

Here we are: the last chapter for the year!


Chapter Twenty Two: This is Why I Failed Science

For all Alaska had heard about scientists and their magnificent laboratory's, she was highly disappointed.

Accepting what Mitchell had to say had been a relatively easy decision for Alaska: she was bored, had time to kill from the battle, and wanted to do something interesting after the disappointment that had been her failure to find the shadowed figure. Whilst she was reluctant to go anywhere with Mitchell, the name Bill still had some effect over her. Everyone in Kanto knew who Bill was: creator of the PC Storage System for Pokemon and a technical genius that helped all the professors with their inventions (and was a well known Pokeathlon competitor, but the scientific community generally ignored this fact about him.) He was getting old though, and had not made a public appearance in a while. Alaska was deeply intrigued to see how he knew of her and why he wanted to see her, and also to check on his sanity if he was working with Mitchell.

"Mr Bill is very very awesome!" Mitchell had explained eagerly as he escorted Alaska and Sandy towards the lone house. "He was very willing to answer all of my questions about PokeBalls and the storage system and that sort of thing and do you want to battle my later?"

"Maybe… possibly… we'll see…," Alaska replied in a forced smile, rather thrown by the sudden topic change and asking herself if Mitchell's Pokemon were as hyperactive as he was. They had approached the house, and it did not look impressive in the slightest: plain white paint, a red tiled roof, blue window frames, a series of potted plants and flowerbeds outside, nothing except for a satellite dish giving off any signs of being the home of an internationally known scientist.

And stepping in didn't change this image.

The home was basically one large open space that was practically empty. A kitchen was built into one corner, a bed in the other, a couch and television opposite and a table in the final one, complete with two computers, a filing cabinet and a large amount of paper. The middle had absolutely nothing asides from a large dirty rug, and the only things giving the pale blue wallpaper any life were a series of photos and trophies from his Pokeathlon days and science awards.

"This is it?" Alaska said, not realising it was aloud until Mitchell and Sandy both turned to her. "Well… I was expecting something a bit grander from a scientist… you know what I mean?" Mitchell and Sandy simply looked confused, but after a while Sandy began to nod.

"Yeah… I would expect there to be giant lasers or a catty super computer that provides funny one liners, like that one in that sponge show…," Sandy saw the amused look Alaska face and stopped talking. "Where is Bill anyway?"

"He was here when I left," Mitchell said in a highly defensive tone that seemed to shock Sandy, but Alaska had to deal with this tone in the past and simply sighed. Mitchell was always the first person to get blamed if something went wrong, and he would deny it even if he was covered in mud that also covered a previously sparkling white wall hours before. He had taken it upon himself to automatically defend everything someone said that was even slightly accusatory, and Alaska wondered how he would fend in battles with people that hadn't been paid to deal with him: most trainers would probably forfeit and leave to avoid the annoyance.

But just as Mitchell sat down on a ratty old sofa, a section of the wall suddenly slid open, revealing a sparkling white bathroom and a man moving forwards. Alaska was fairly impressed with the first sign of advanced technology in the scientist's house, yet was not impressed with the scientist himself: Bill was gaining in the years, with tufty grey eyebrows, a heavily wrinkled face and grey hair that was only at a rather wispy state. He was dressed in a blue tracksuit that hugged a mild pot belly and it looked as if it hadn't been washed in a while. Alaska was becoming fairly unimpressed, and hoped he wasn't just some old codger who wanted to show off his trophies to an aspiring trainer.

"Ah, you must be Alaska Acevedo, yes?" Bill said, smiling widely as he advanced forward, and Alaska simply nodded as she shaked his hand. "Splendid! I thought I recognised you when you walked past, but I'm afraid my body isn't as healthy as it use to be and I needed to rush to the lavatory, though it seems Mitchell was fast in getting you two here." Mitchell's sulk turned into a wide, goofy smile at the praise, and Alaska simply nodded, though was for the second time today thrown off by someone (well, something) mentioning her name: the voice knew about her blog, and now Bill stated he recognised her. Alaska was beginning to feel uneasy about this trip and wondered why the old scientist knew about her at all.

"You looked rather stunned my dear girl," Bill said, staring at her inquisitively as if she was a specimen. "Feeling ill? Mitchell be a good boy and fetch us some of those lovely juice boxes from before." Mitchell leapt to his feet and ran to his bag, searching through them to procure a series of orange coloured juice boxes.

"I'm fine," Alaska said, remembering the overly sugary drinks that were half the reason for Mitchell's uncontrollability. Bill nodded, but took one for himself and passed one over to Sandy, who seemed rather excited to have one. As they opened their juice boxes, Alaska decided it was best to get things over with. "Why did you invite me here? How exactly do you recognise me when we've never met?" Bill was rather taken aback by the assertiveness, but smiled as he slurped at the drink.

"My dear, everyone whose anyone in Kanto knows who you are," he said, and Alaska found herself not comforted in the slightest by this. Bill seemed to notice this and pulled his drink away from his mouth. "That incident at the museum has set alarm bells ringing in all the right places. Our world has been at peace for these past three years since those dreadful events at Sinnoh, and no one is looking forward to one mad scientist coming back and trying to ruin things. Mark Hansom was quick to spread the word about you and how you managed to prevent Gideon from taking anything, and I thought I would congratulate you in person for such a –,"

"Gideon got the fossils," Alaska said bluntly, and Bill froze in mid sentence. Alaska quickly explained what had happened at Mt Moon, and with each word Bill's jaw got lower and lower. When she reached the part of the exploding GolemBot, the juice box crashed to floor and sprayed its contents everywhere, causing the sleeping Frances to awake. Bill looked flustered when Alaska finished explaining, and quickly rushed towards his computer.

"Well, I must say I am very glad I brought you over," he said quickly, starting his computers up. As one of the screens flickered to life, Alaska found herself being taken aback: a website was open on Bill's computer, with a black background and white writing, and it could have been any old site except for the simple white banner that Alaska had roughly made in two minutes: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps.

It was her blog.

"Oh… yes… I should have been more up to date with your up to dates," Bill chuckled weakly, minimizing the blog and turning back to Alaska. "Well, at least everyone else will know about this now. I broke my phone the other day when I was trying something out, and my assistant is to busy to get me a new –,"

"You're all reading my blog?" Alaska said, her voice a combination of anger and confusion. Bill simply nodded, his expression showing that he wasn't expecting her to react this way.

"The elite people of Kanto don't know exactly what is going on all the time, and after we did some research into you following the museum, your blog came up and we all decided to follow it to make sure you were alright," Bill explained. Alaska was getting confused and moved towards a stool near the kitchen, collapsing and placing Frances on the bench. Sandy came forwards with a juice box that Alaska snatched without word, stabbing the straw in, imaging it was a knife going into Chloe, and drank the contents in one long gulp, everyone watching her in silence.

"It is very interesting to see that the 'elites' of our region have nothing better to than then read my blog," Alaska said at last, throwing the empty juice box aside. Sandy and Mitchell remained in silence, but Bill simply laughed as he walked over to Alaska, giving her a firm pat on the shoulder.

"It does make for very fine reading," he said with a smile, and Alaska simply nodded, becoming too confused to really focus on anything. She never thought her blog would become the centre of insight knowledge for everyone in the world, and it sort of made her promise to herself to stay away from all this seem selfish if all these people were relying on her to get the knowledge for them.

"So, let me just clarify things a bit," Alaska said. "Because I fought Gideon at Pewter Museum, everyone is reading my blog?"

"Correct."

"And everyone is afraid that Gideon is going to destroy the peace?"

"Right again."

"And as he has the fossils, that makes things worse?"

"Much worse." Alaska nodded and sighed, staring at Sandy or Frances for support, but nothing came her way.

"Are they going to do anything about Gideon?" Bill looked rather uneasy at this question, which Alaska took for an instant 'no'.

"Well… no one knows where he is," the scientist explained, and Alaska allowed a single laugh to escape her lips: these elites really weren't very good if they couldn't find the person threatening to destroy the world. She wondered how long before they dropped Alaska and her laptop in remote areas and expected feedback. "We all thought Gideon had died in an explosion when Red, Leaf and Blue stormed a base he was at the Sevii Islands. Only two Rocket grunts escaped alive, and we have been following them but they slipped and only recently came back on our radar."

"Wait a minute… Rocket grunts… does that mean Gideon worked for Team Rocket?" Alaska said, feeling her heart skipping a beat. Flashes suddenly filled her head: she had not been in Viridian at the time, but the news images of army tanks advancing towards the Pokemon League, Pokemon moves colliding and exploding, the flash of gun fire. Sandy and Mitchell gasped as well, and Bill's face sunk.

"You didn't know that either… ah… I really must call someone to explain things to you," Bill said. "I would myself, but I have a meeting soon, but I would if I could…," Bill paused and sighed, rubbing his head and drinking more of his juice box. "I am sorry you got involved in this Alaska. I hope you know that we are looking out for you and there is protection in place, but I personally would feel better if you had some firepower on you." Alaska was once again taken aback by the mention of protection, wondering if the shadowed figure had anything to do with it, but the mention of 'firepower' got her interested.

"What firepower?" Sandy asked curiously. "I don't see any weapons around here."

"They were saying how your really boring and don't have any cool gadgets!" Mitchell said in a high pitched, tattling tone, and gave Alaska a jeering smile. Bill simply laughed and walked towards the computer desk, grabbing a small black remote.

"My assistant Daisy doesn't like me getting involved with weapons at my age. She is afraid I might blow a hole in the roof… again," Bill said with a smile. "However, I thought I would keep a few things, just for when she isn't around." His smile widened as he pressed a button, and suddenly the house shook. Frances hid on Alaska's shoulder as a bit of floor panel opened up, and the dirty rug was retracted into the ground. Alaska, Sandy and Mitchell all ooohed and aaahed as an empty black rectangle appeared, but the whirring continued as items began to rise up.

Several metal tables consisting of many different levels were piled high with a variety of gadgets, ranging from objects the size of a cell phone to missile launchers and black boxes that undoubtedly were full of surprises. There was a giant touch computer that could fulfil Sandy's idea of a talking computer. There were slim machines with nozzles and many buttons, bulky machines that only had keyboards, and machines that resembled stereos and car batteries and television aerials on top of a large metal ball. Everything looked so high tech and fancy that Alaska felt her brain cells running away in embarrassment. She felt her eyes drawing towards a machine in the very center of the rising platform, with nothing else around: it resembled a silver lamppost, but instead of two light bulbs it had two holes leading into the machine, and there were a series of buttons and a small screen on the actual body.

"What are these things?" Alaska said, walking forwards and reaching out towards the lamp post looking machine. Bill slapped her hand away, his expression half serious and half smiling.

"I wouldn't touch that one if I was you," he said, and pulled Alaska towards one of the tables were Sandy and Mitchell had gathered, staring in awe at the various devices on display. Each one looked like it had cost millions of dollars to build and was more advanced than anything Alaska had ever owned or probably would own.

"You are going up against a scientist that has spent about five years off the radar, and what he did during that time no one knows," Bill explained as he grabbed one of the metal boxes and pressed a button, causing it to open up. "It is clear that he can teleport, so he will undoubtedly have other weapons." Bill pulled what looked like a silver rocket launcher out of the box, though it was much smaller, but it still caused Alaska's jaws dropped in surprise.

"This does not have any bullets or explosives in it," Bill explained, "but it does have things that will save you in a safe manner: smoke bombs, stun guns, mild electric shocks, flares. It even has a feature that will prevent certain Pokemon moves from hitting you and another that will fire a sticky substance to trap someone."

"Oh my god, this is so awesome!" Sandy said excitedly, looking at some of the attachments that were inside the box. "I wasn't even allowed a water gun as a child!" She reached out to grab something, but Bill beat her hands away and closed the box, looking serious. Alaska felt the fun and excitement she shared with Sandy getting sucked away, feeling a serious discussion coming on.

"This is not a toy: this is a weapon to be used only when necessary," the scientist explained. He was so focused on them he didn't notice a bored Mitchell wandering off to examine the other machines. "I must make sure that this weapon is going into the right hands, so I would like you to test it quickly." Alaska hated having to earn respect: it was so tedious and whenever she did something wrong, she would get that irritating judging I expected better from you look. But the gun was shiny and obviously packed a punch, and Alaska looked forward to being able to blow something up in Chloe's face and claim she was coming at her with a knife.

"Just each of you send a Pokemon out over there and than move backwards," Bill explained, and he himself threw a PokeBall over. An Eevee formed near the front door, and as Sandy made an 'awwww' sound, Alaska felt her heart melt a bit at the sign of the adorable Normal type. She looked at Frances, but saw she was hiding behind the toaster, and sent Paige out instead, knowing having things fired at her wouldn't scare her. Butterfree joined the three, and they got around introducing each other. Alaska noted Mitchell eyeing up the lamp post machine and was going to say something, but Bill passed the gun forwards and her attention shot back to that. It was so small to have the power and abilities it had, much like some of the Pokemon Alaska had met. She grabbed the gun and turned towards her Pokemon, Paige and Butterfree looking rather stunned, though Bill's Eevee must get shot at regularly as she didn't flinch.

"Don't hurt them!" Sandy whispered.

"Don't worry, this setting we are going to try first is entirely harmless," Bill said, and had Alaska hold the gun up as if she was trying to shoot someone, and the scientist turned the nozzle so it was at a certain setting. "This is simply going to show how it can deflect simple moves or those used from weak Pokemon. The Pokemon will attack, and you pull the trigger and hold it at the attack, alright?"

"I think so," Alaska said, though hoped she didn't misfire and end up getting hit with a Twister. "Paige, use Twister!" Paige seemed rather confused by what was going on, but nodded and began spinning around. Bill raced forwards to put paperweights on his work as Eevee and Butterfree moved away. Alaska stood poised and ready, hoping things would work.

"PIDGEEEEE!" Paige cried, and the Twister flew towards her. Sandy squealed as Alaska tensed up and pulled the trigger. She felt the gun shudder and watched through half closed eyes as a wavy but clear barrier rose up. It stretched to the size of about five dinner plates, and the Twister crashed into it. Alaska thought she was going to fly backwards, but the barrier caused the attack to break apart, no longer harmful.

"WOOO!" Alaska cried, letting go of the trigger and letting the barrier fall away. Sandy was clapping and cheering, and Bill smiled widely as he walked back over to him. "That actually felt pretty cool to deflect an attack myself… without using brownies." This seemed to confuse Bill and Sandy, but they ignored it as the success of the first trial swept through them.

"Can I have a turn?" Sandy asked pleadingly.

"Alaska will have a try with the other two Pokemon, than it will be yours," Bill said, and Sandy nodded and moved away. Alaska wasn't sure if she would even let Sandy have a turn, this weapon far too interesting and fun. She raised it up as Eevee walked forwards, and was waiting for Bill to command an attack when they all heard it: a loud beeping coming behind. Every head turned instinctively to the source of the noise, and they gasped as they saw Mitchell pressing several buttons on the lamp post machine.

"MITCHELL, NO!" Bill screamed, and the little boy turned around.

"I'm not doing anything wrong, just touching!" He said grouchily, but he didn't seem to notice what everyone else could see: two balls of light forming where the lights should be, causing all other items in the house to flicker and fizz.

"DUCK!" Bill screamed, and as the elderly man jumped to the floor, Alaska knew it was bad. She threw the gun into the box and shoved Sandy to the floor before rolling aside herself. Mitchell suddenly screamed as he realised what was happening, but as Alaska looked up, she saw it was too late as bolts suddenly exploded from the light. There was no where to hide to avoid them, and Alaska simply froze, hoping the bolts wouldn't hit her. Paige, Butterfree and Eevee were crying out, and Alaska made the mistake of looking up.

The bolt struck her directly in the head, and Alaska let out a scream as she experienced a pain she had never felt before. It felt as if she was being torn from her body, and all Alaska could see was a strange mix of black and white lights flickering around her. For a moment she felt her scream stop, possibly blacking out from the pain, but a moment later she was on the floor, the pain stopped but still feeling confused. She looked around and saw Sandy and Butterfree, but couldn't see Paige anywhere.

"Is everyone alright?" Alaska said, and got to her feet. Well… she thought she had gotten to her feet, yet the ground seemed to be a lot closer than it had been before. "Has that stupid machine turned me into a toddler?" Butterfree was moving in front of her, giving her a very strange, judging look.

"Alaska?" She said, and Alaska nearly jumped out of her skin: was it just her, or had Butterfree just spoken English… in Sandy's voice? Alaska raised a hand to prod her, to check if things were real, but than she screamed as she looked down and saw she didn't have hands.

She had wings.

Instinctively Alaska began looking around for something reflective, and then remembered the toaster Frances was hiding behind. She leapt up their, her new wings flailing, and scuttled across the surface with her talons. Alaska saw a figure stir alongside, and screamed once again when she saw herself moving upwards, rubbing her head.

"No way, this cannot be happening…," Alaska said, and she stared at the toaster: brown and cream feathers, pink talons, peak, beady black eyes, long yellow and pink plumage.

Alaska had somehow turned into Paige. She stared at the toaster for a minute, not sure quite what to say or do, but managed to produce two words she never thought she'd hear her starter say.

"Oh balls."



Possibly not the cliffhanger many of you were expecting, but I hope you enjoy it all the same. Thanks to everyone who has read this throughout the year and those fans who have offered their take on each chapter and given me some helpful advice. I hope you continue to enjoy this series next year! It will be back late December/early January, and I hope to have gotten to the end of the Vermilion Arc by the end of January, where there will be new Pokemon, more of the mysteries revealed, and more one liners that I hope I'm not the only one who finds amusing Thanks once again and see you all next year (unless you read my other work, than see you very soon )

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Chapter 22 - Last for year

@Alaskapigeon@WinterVines

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all enjoyed the holiday season, but the start of 2012 means it is time to join Alaska, Paige and Sandy once more - I am sure you are all suffering from withdrawals without her catty one liners and your holidays probably didn't involve being chased by gigantic Pokemon robots, and if they did, then you need to find someone else to spend your holidays with. Anyway, enjoy, and here's hoping to a grand year of 8ES!

Chapter Twenty Three: Life Swap, Pokemon Edition

There had been many things that had happened in Alaska's relatively short life that had caused her a great deal of surprise – the time her brother Edward cut his hand and blood spurted everywhere, the time a Ponyta ran in front of her when she was riding her bike, a storm that occurred when they stayed at her aunt's house in Johto and the roof nearly crushed her. Even things that had happened over the journey had caused her a great deal of surprise, ranging simply from seeing Mitchell was going on one as well to being chased down a collapsing tunnel by psychotic Clefairy.

However, nothing came to close to discovering you and your Pidgeotto had switched bodies.

"What the FUCK is going on here?" Alaska yelled, staring into the toaster and picking at herself with her wings, trying to make sense of what had happened. She looked to the right and saw herself staring back at her in surprise, though Paige was simply making her usual noises. Alaska clutched a hand… wing… something to her head and looked around, seeing Frances was staring out from behind the toaster with a petrified look on her face. Alaska looked down to see Butterfree was hyperventilating, and felt some mild relief to know that Sandy had been swapped as well, but that didn't stop her confusion. Sandy's body was getting nervously to her feet, Butterfree clearly not knowing what to do with being in such a larger frame.

"Bill, what is going on?" Alaska yelled and stomped forwards on her clawed feet, not realising she was walking straight off the edge of the bench. She screamed as she feel, frantically flapping her wings to try and steady herself, but ultimately landing face first on the tiled floor.

"Pidgeotto Pidge?" Paige said, and Alaska merely sighed as she looked up at herself staring down at her in concern.

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Alaska growled as she got back to her feet. She was annoyed about once again having something crazy happen to her, but Alaska simply wanted to fix things now before they got too out of hand and she ended up going off the deep end. She began to walk forwards, not trusting her new wings but at the same being annoyed at seeing things from this low angle. Bill's Eevee was walking towards her, the man himself slumped up against on of his metal tables, the stuff that had been piled high now lying on the floor.

"Now you listen here!" Alaska shouted, pointing a wing up at the scientist. "Sandy and I came here because you wanted to thank me and give me a weapon and all that jazz, but this has just turned into yet another bloody mishap, and I won't stand for it! Whatever happened, I want to be changed back RIGHT NOW!"

"Alaska, my dear," Bill said next to her, but Alaska screamed and leapt backwards once she realised that it was actually his Eevee that was talking. "Alaska, I am sorry you have gotten caught up in this," Bill continued, rather unbothered by the switch, "but giving you a weapon is necessary to help protect you in case Gideon or anyone else goes after you. And as for the Brain Switch, I am very sorry for that, I never intended for that to help," and Bill turned towards the lamp post like machine, which Alaska looked up at as well. Her short term memory had been slightly frazzled, but Alaska could know remember seeing Mitchell hitting buttons.

"MITCHELL!" Alaska yelled, flapping her wings so furiously that she slowly took off into the air, but landed with a thud once she realised what she was doing. Mitchell timidly stuck his head out from behind a table, looking nervous as the two Pokemon with human brains looked angrily up at him, Eevee even getting to Bill's feet. It was his fault that the machine had gone off, causing this 'Brain Switch' as Bill had dubbed it, and Alaska was going to let him have.

"Sorry…," Mitchell said sadly before she could snap, hanging his head in shame and staring down at his feet with a pout on his face. "I didn't mean too… it was an accident!" He added, and even let out a little sob. Eevee's face relaxed at the apology, but Alaska tutted: she had seen Mitchell pull this trick a thousand times before when she babysat him. Whenever his mother began to tell him off, Mitchell would apologise and begin to cry, and would get an 'it's alright' and a hug, the blame than being shifted to Alaska, sometimes resulting in her losing part of her payment. But once Mrs Melton had left the room, Mitchell would grin evilly and go back to being happy. Alaska had always hated this happening, and she wasn't going to let it happen this time.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it this time Mitchell!" She yelled, and turned slightly to see Butterfree dragging her own body forwards as Sandy continued to hyperventilate from the shock, and Paige was struggling to move Alaska's body, Frances resting on her shoulder.

"But I am sorry!" Mitchell whined, clearly not pleased with his apology being rejected.

"Our brains have switched!" Alaska growled. "If you hadn't meddled with the buttons and tried to get attention like the immature little shit that you are, than maybe I wouldn't suddenly be covered in feathers!" Alaska's words ringed through the silent room, and all eyes turned between her and Mitchell as the young boy began to sniff. Though she didn't want to feel guilty, Alaska couldn't help but feel bad as Mitchell genuinely began to cry: he was fairly sensitive and didn't like being criticized or upset, and Alaska's words were incredibly harsh by his standards.

"Fine then!" He huffed as he grabbed his bag. "Be a big meanie Alaska, see if I care!" Bill raised one of Eevee's paws in an attempt to stop him, but Mitchell was already heading for the door and angrily slammed it shut behind him, making Frances cower on Alaska's shoulder. Bill sighed and gave Alaska a look, and she shrugged her wings.

"I am sorry, I shouldn't have gotten angry, but this is his fault!"

"Pidgeotto Pidge Pidgey," Paige said in a scolding tone, but Alaska didn't notice as she was still amazed to see and hear those words coming from her own lips.

"I would go after him, but I would rather get my brain switched back!" Alaska said, and turned back towards Bill, though was surprised to see the actual man rolling his eyes whilst Bill shuffled one of Eevee's paws against the ground. "What is it now?" Alaska sighed, leaning against the table and putting a wing to her head.

"One of the reasons why my assistant Daisy doesn't like me using all these machines is that the power grid isn't particularly strong," Bill explained awkwardly. "It will take a while to get it going again, but Eevee, well, myself and I will go and examine things and I'll see if my Jolteon can help out."

"What are we supposed to do?" Alaska snapped. She knew coming to this lab would end up going bad, though she hadn't expected this to happen and looked up at herself, seeing Paige's eyes staring out from where her own should be.

"Do whatever you like, but just don't meddle with anything," Bill said. Alaska thought this command was rather amusing as it was coming from the mouth of an Eevee, but her amusement didn't last long and she simply sighed and looked back up at herself and Frances, who seemed rather petrified by all of this.

"Shall we go after Mitchell then?" Alaska said, and Paige nodded her head. "Alright then – you fix the mistake and we'll go and fix mine," Alaska called back to Bill, who simply shook one of Eevee's paws in a 'whatever' sort of motion and disappeared through a side door with his body. Alaska began to hobble forwards to the door, and Paige had managed the basics of walking with a much larger body and wobbled after her, Frances clinging on for dear life. Butterfree was much more capable of getting control of Sandy's body, and scooped herself into Sandy's arm, Sandy still hyperventilating.

"What is your problem?" Alaska asked as Paige tried to open the door but struggled with using hands, and Frances had to shakily crawl down and turn the handle with a claw. Sandy simply continued to breathe deeply, and Butterfree mumbled something to Paige who nodded in agreement. "Alright, don't tell me then!" Alaska tutted, and stepped out of the door once it was open.

Unfortunately for her, the wind had picked up.

Alaska let out a shriek that almost sounded like Paige as a burst of wind struck her. It didn't feel cold, mostly due to Paige's feathers providing insulation from it, but Alaska still felt a sensation as the wind picked her up around her wings and sent her flying. It was the same feeling Alaska had experienced whenever she flew to Johto to visit her aunt and the small plane took off into the sky, but her lurching stomach and spinning body didn't feel that nice and Alaska was pleased when Paige managed to catch her.

"Cheers," Alaska wheezed, shocked by the experience, and even more shocked to find her own hand touching her but not feeling it: it was an eerie sight that would stick with Alaska, but a Pidgeotto was a bit too big to fit in a one hand and Paige put her down on the ground.

"Butter Free Free?" Butterfree asked.

"Hmm….," Alaska said in response, looking around for any sign of Mitchell. He clearly hadn't gone up the cliff, so that left them to turn right and examine the area. "I say we split up and look around the lake and the forest we ran through before. They are really the only places he could have hidden." Paige and Butterfree nodded their respective trainer's heads, but whilst they agreed there was a gulping noise that surprised Alaska.

"Spl-spl-spl-split up?" Sandy said, standing up in her own arms and staring down at Alaska. "We can't possibly sp-split up!" Alaska didn't want to deal with Sandy and her slight insanity at the moment, but she could see Butterfree's big pink eyes shaking with worry, and could even see a slight hint of Sandy's bright green eyes in them.

"Alright, fine," Alaska said with a slight sigh, figuring it was best to just move and find Mitchell before he did something silly, and made a mental note to ask Sandy about things later. "Let's just get moving than, shall we?" Alaska's temper was being pushed to its limits at the moment, and she really just wanted to get things fixed and be over with the bad memory.

"Pidgey Pidge!" Paige said, and Alaska watched in shock as her body suddenly leapt upwards, her arms flapping madly. Alaska's face looked petrified a few moments later, and everyone moved aside as Paige caused her body to crash to the ground, causing Frances to fly off and crash to the ground.

"Paige!" Alaska scolded, kicking angrily at the sand as she squabbled over to check on Frances. The Paras was shaking violently as she got up the right way, and even scuttled in fright as Alaska approached. Paige's face scowled at Alaska's body, was continued to lie in the sand, and Paige raised her hands in apology.

"Free Butter Butter," Butterfree said, and Sandy nodded Butterfree's head.

"I know it's a bit of a change, but I don't have wings sticking out of my back to fly with!" Alaska snapped, but caught Sandy and Butterfree both sniggering as Alaska had flapped Paige's wings in her annoyance, contradicting her point. "NOT USUALLY!" This day was simply getting more annoying, and Alaska was not in a mood. Silently she began to storm off through the grass, expecting the others to follow along behind her. She wasn't going to wait for them, or for anyone else. Alaska was letting too many things get in the way of her journey, and she needed to stay focused on her gym badges. Misty would be waiting at her gym around about now, not that Paige had a watch on her wings, and Alaska didn't want to have to explain to the gym leader, who would already be annoyed with her 'Sorry I'm late, but my brain got switched by that Bill guy.'

"Who even makes a fricking Brain Switching machine anyway?" Alaska yelled, and furiously kicked out with Paige's claws. However, she hadn't realised that she'd been walking towards a patch of long, dark green grass, and was surprised when Paige's claw collided with something.

"BEEEEELLL!" The something cried, and Alaska leapt backwards as the others rushed over. Alaska had no idea what she had walked into, but stared in shock as what appeared to be a large yellow flower rose out of the grass. "SPROOOOOUT!" The thing cried, and Alaska backed off as the yellow bell walked forwards, revealing a body that resembled roots.

"It's a Bellsprout!" Sandy exclaimed, and she rose up from her own arms only to fall and land directly on top of Paige's body. "Oops… sorry!"

"Even with wings you can't help but fall on me, can you?" Alaska grunted, pushing Butterfree's body off with Paige's wings. The thing called a Bellsprout has its weedy arms raised as if going to fight, but the fact that a Pidgeotto and Butterfree had just spoken English seemed to stun it and it froze. Sandy brushed dirt off Butterfree's body before turning towards Alaska and giving her a stern look.

"Apologise to the poor Bellsprout!" She said. "You shouldn't have walked into her!" Alaska didn't particularly want to, but she could see her and Sandy's faces looking stern as well and knew she had no choice and turned towards the shocked Bellsprout.

"Sorry for walking into you. I'm just in a bit of a mood," Alaska said and made Paige's body smile in a clearly forced way. The Bellsprout simply mumbled 'Bell Bell' in a rather confused manner, and Alaska took that as acceptance. "Alright then, let's go!" She said and began walking past the grass, her body following behind her with the petrified Frances.

"Hang on a moment Alaska!" Sandy called out, and Alaska growled as she came to a sudden stop, Paige nearly tripping over her. They all looked back as Butterfree's body moved towards Bellsprout, who still looked stunned by everything. "Bellsprout, have you seen a boy come by here? Light brown hair, white skin, possibly weeping, holding a large bag?" The Bellsprout was still stunned by things and simply blinked in shock.

"Butter Free Free Ter," Butterfree said, which caused Bellsprout to leap up in shock: humans talking in Pokemon was just another big surprise for the Flower Pokemon. However, Butterfree's words seemed to reassure it and help understand what Sandy had said.

"Bellsprout Bell Bell Sprout Bell," Bellsprout said, and moved forwards by flailing her legs in a way that nearly made Alaska laugh, but she held it in as Bellsprout led the way. Everyone quickly followed behind, and Alaska was rather glad they were now making progress. "Sprout Bell," Bellsprout called, stopping by a sign that read 'CERULEAN CITY' and had an arrow pointing in the same direction that Bellsprout's root arm was pointing in.

"That's the path around the lake," Alaska told the others. "Mitchell must be heading back towards the city, so I say we move quickly before he runs off." All heads nodded except for the petrified Frances, and Alaska turned and smiled at Bellsprout. "Thanks for your help," she said, and Bellsprout's large yellow head twisted in a smile. Alaska turned, catching a brief glimpse of the shining blue lake as the wind caused ripples across its surface, before staring down the muddy path towards Cerulean.

But than she stopped.

Alaska could see Mitchell, and felt a brief second of relief to have caught up. However, that faded when she saw the person he was talking to: Chloe, with the rest of the reality group coming up behind. And, just as Alaska began to silently scream in her head and turn around, she saw Mitchell turn and point towards them, and Chloe's triumphant face looked up, her smile growing as if she had just got her mortal enemy in a very weak form.



It possibly wasn't the most exciting thing to start the year with, and the stars appearing has become a drag, yes, but I promise the next part will be much more enjoyable.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Chapter 23

Thanks Thundagere

@WinterVines@Alaskapigeon

Chapter Twenty Four: My Monkey, My Enemy, My God….

"Shit shit shit, run!" Alaska hissed under her breath, and began flapping Paige's wings desperately to shoo them all away. However, Sandy had walked forwards before Alaska had begun whispering, and didn't know why they were being called back.

"Mitchell's right there Alaska!" She said with a tone that signalled she would have rolled Butterfree's eyes if she could, and Sandy kept moving forwards. However, she froze as soon as she saw Chloe walking briskly forwards, smiling deviously, and Sandy desperately tried to back track so they could all leave, but it was too late.

"Well well well," Chloe cackled as she stared down, wearing the same expression she wore when she had verbally torn into people at their school, "look what the great Alaska Avocado has been reduced to – a meesly little Pidgeotto! HA – where's your fighting spirit now?"

"Pidge Otto Pidgey!" Paige snapped, advancing forwards in Alaska's body but wobbled nervously, simply causing Chloe to laugh loudly. Alaska was proud of Paige for sticking up for Pidgeotto's being insulted, but her bad day was simply getting worse and she didn't want to have to deal with Chloe bloody Carmichael of all people, nor give her the satisfaction of being currently superior.

"Listen Chloe, just piss off," Alaska snapped, trying to sound as angry as possible to make up for currently being feathered, though could see the rest of the crew and Mitchell were coming up behind. "This is just a mistake and I want to get it over with, which means I don't want to deal with you!"

"You don't get to call the shots here!" Chloe snarled though her face remained joyous. "Whose currently the human, eh?" Alaska simply sighed and clutched Paige's head with her wings, wearily looking up. Damian, Lachlan and the camera crew all looked rather shocked, but Amanda was hovering next to them with a look that seemed to say her Christmas had come early, and the words she hissed in the cameraman's ear were clearly 'Get this all on film.'

"I would let you go and deal with this later, but you have been embarrassing me on film for far too long now," Chloe said, a touch of acid creeping into her words now. Alaska had seen this from Chloe before: wearing a smile on her face as she told other girls and boys at the school how they amounted to nothing less than shit on her shoe. Alaska wasn't going to let it get to her, but could still see how Chloe's eyes burned with rage.

"If you don't want to be embarrassed than maybe you should have signed up to a show where you're actually good at what the main task is. I hear that adult channel is starting a new reality show to find the next big porn star – that sounds about right up your alley," Alaska hissed back, and Chloe let out a shriek before kicking out. Her aim meant only dust got in Alaska's eyes, and Paige's body was adapt to ridding things getting in her eyes in mid flight and it was much quicker to blink them out.

"Once again, I'M in the position of power!" Chloe yelled, bending down and glaring directly at Alaska. Her presence was rather intimidating to those that were weak, meaning Sandy was hanging back and not coming to help, while Paige and Butterfree weren't adapt to their current bodies enough to get in a fight. Alaska could see the cameraman was filming things as Amanda beamed deviously and jotted things down on a touch device, nearly blocking Mitchell as he peered at the scene. Alaska was frustrated about how the day was going, and having Chloe shout in her face while everyone else stood back wasn't helping things.

"I am going to battle you now," Chloe continued to growl, "and you are going to fight in a way that suits me this time, alright? I am sick of you defeating me and making me look like a fool, so let's see how you like it!" Alaska was in no mood for a battle, especially as she was currently a Pidgeotto, and wanted to do something to get Chloe off her case and head back to Bill's lab and see if he was done. She wasn't quite sure how to ease things for herself at first, but as Chloe continued to lean over her Alaska got a brilliant idea: it was something that she would never get away with as a human, but as a Pokemon…

"You want to battle me?" Alaska snapped, bending Paige's legs. "How's this for suiting you?" And Alaska sprang up, beak wide open, and before Chloe could react Paige's beak was biting down on her nose.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Chloe screamed and flung her body upright and shook her body, but Alaska simply chomped down harder and twisted. The sickening crack as Chloe's nose broke was enough to make up for all the annoyance Alaska had gone through today, and she felt pleasure in hearing Paige, Butterfree and Lachlan laughing, as well as the terrified shrieks of Amanda.

"STOP! HER FACE NEEDS TO BE IN PRISTINE CONDITION," the producer yelled. "IT'S ONE OF HER BEST ASSESTS!" Alaska suddenly found the woman's hands grasping around her body, and Chloe stopped spinning and simply cried as Alaska bit down harder on her nose.

"IT HUUUU-HUUU-HUUUURTS!" Chloe whined, and Alaska felt good and jiggled the bone around a bit as Amanda pulled.

"Let go you blasted bitch!" She hissed and squeezed tightly on Paige's midriff. Alaska gasped as she felt her Pokemon's body get squished, making her gasp for air: a Pidgeotto didn't have a tough body like an Onix or Machamp for example, with feathers the only major protection. Amanda continued to squeeze, and the more she did the more Alaska became concerned that her oldest friend could end up with a serious injury to her ribcage. Alaska tried shaking free, but only Paige's wings weren't contained by Amanda's increasingly tight grip, and Alaska would soon be forced to let go of Chloe's nose as she fought for air. She had to fight back against Chloe, but wasn't sure how in Paige's body…

Than it hit her: if Alaska was in Paige's body, did that mean she could control her moves? Alaska had never thought much about what caused Pokemon's moves, but now that she was in this position the thought occurred to her. Did the moves need Paige's brain to control them, or were they more body than mind? Amanda's hands continued to squeeze down on Paige's body, and the cameraman was moving in closer, and Alaska had to act now.

Concentrate on the wings… she thought, and squeezed her eyes in concentration. A sensation rose up on the left side of Paige's body, and Alaska nearly let go of Chloe's nose as she gasped: the power rising up in the wing was almost breathtaking. Alaska could feel the energy in Paige's body, her body, her mind moving towards the wing. It felt orgasmic in a rather strange way, and Alaska savoured the surge as the left wing began to glow silver.

"Alaska Ka Alas," she mumbled mockingly and swung Paige's Silver Wing backwards. Alaska felt like the body was well and truly hers as the wing soared backwards, but gasped as it went for the wrong target: the cameraman had unfortunately gotten too close, possibly urged on by Amanda, but now he couldn't escape in time and could only watch as the wing smashed through the expensive piece of equipment. The Steel Wing was powerful, and the camera stood no chance: it shattered into two large pieces, with one of them being tossed by the force of the wing. Amanda screamed and let go of Paige's body in order to raise her hands, the camera smashing into them. Alaska had a seemingly sick sense of pleasure at the pain being caused, but need to draw air in and opened Paige's beak to breath, allowing Chloe to flee.

"Are you alright?" Damian said, walking forwards and looking concerned. However, Chloe simply screamed and cried, blood streaming down her nose. Alaska thumped to the ground and looked up, beginning to feel bad and wondering if she had gone too far this time. She looked up at Amanda, though the producer was uninjured and simply furious, and than Alaska faced her friends. The Bellsprout seemed rather stunned by things, but Sandy, Butterfree and her own face simply looked normal.

"Did I possibly take things a few notches too high?" Alaska asked sheepishly, but Sandy shook Butterfree's head.

"It may have been a bit gruesome, but Chloe was being horrible to you," she said, "so I think she can live with the pain a bit." Alaska felt more reassured after this and turned back towards the stars: the boom operator was wiping the blood away from Chloe's nose, which seemed to have not been broken after all and Alaska had simply bitten down on the less bony part of her nose. However, Chloe was furious all the same.

"KILL HER, THROW HER IN THE LAKE!" She roared, staring more at Damian and Lachlan as she spoke. "DEFEAT HER FOR ME!" Alaska tutted at the way she was ordering them all around and wanted to give her a piece of her mind. However, Damian and Lachlan were exchanging looks, and Amanda was silently scowling at them, the look on her eyes enough to cause pressure: clearly, one of the boys was expected to come forth and battle Alaska.

"You can defend honour as much as you like, but there ain't no camera to prove it," Alaska snapped. She still didn't fancy a battle, especially now that they would probably fight rather viciously. However, Damian gave Chloe a gentle pat on the back and walked towards them. Paige and Butterfree moved their trainers bodies forwards to defend them, but Damian raised his hands in a sort of surrender before getting down on one knee.

"Alaska, if one of us doesn't battle you, than it will be bad for us and even worse for you," he whispered so no one else could hear, and Alaska noted some genuine fear in his voice. "Let's just have a brief one-on-one battle, and than we can move on Amanda can just accept it." Alaska was stunned to hear him talk about it being bad for him as well, and wondered if Amanda had been threatening them over Alaska. She didn't want Damian or Lachlan to get hurt unnecessarily, as they had always seemed a lot nicer than Chloe, and she gave Paige's head a brief nod.

"Come on Frances, let's battle!" Alaska called as Damian moved backwards to mark out a field. However, as Alaska turned Paige's body to face her, the Paras clambered down Alaska's back, staring out with a terrified look: clearly the battle with Clefairy hadn't improved her confidence as much as Alaska had hoped, and facing off against Damian seemed to have her frightened.

"You aren't going to be able to use Paige, well, yourself, to battle," Sandy pointed out, and Alaska nodded grimly: there was only one choice for this battle, and she wasn't happy about it.

"Paige, would you mind sending Darwin out please?" Alaska asked, and Chloe let out a short laugh before moaning with pain and clutching her nose. Alaska grinned to herself as Paige used Alaska's hands to reach into and grab Darwin's PokeBall. It seemed that, similar to how Alaska had used Paige's moves, Alaska's fingerprints still activated the PokeBall, sending the Mankey out onto the field. Alaska turned around as he began to form, and could see Amanda was smiling once more and whispering to the boom operator. Lachlan stood by Mitchell, who still looked upset, and Alaska realised that if she ignored everyone and let him run off she might not be in this mess, facing Darwin as Damian sent his Charmander onto the field.

Though Alaska hadn't shared these thoughts with Sandy or Paige, she had written in her blog briefly about her concerns about Darwin. She was beginning to notice his impulses and seeming desperation for battling and have a strong fight, and was wondering if at some point Darwin would begin to get too strong for her liking.

"Alright Darwin, let's just make this short and sweet, alright?" Alaska called out. Darwin turned around, staring down at Paige's body looking immensely confused. "I'll explain later," Alaska said irritably, "but just defeat the bloody Charmander so we can go home."

"Key Man Man?" Darwin said, a slight smile crossing his face as he stared down at Alaska: his long springy legs meant he was taller than Paige, and Alaska didn't like where this was going.

"Just turn around and focus!" She snapped and looked towards Damian. He was standing there silently, as was his Charmander, ignoring the shrieks coming from Chloe with suggestions of what to do to Alaska. For once, Alaska was stunned to see that a member of the reality crew actually appeared focused and organised on the battle itself rather than simply on thoughts of victory.

"This battle is an one on one," the cameraman said, his tool now in a large plastic bag and was resorting to using Amanda's hand held device to film. "First Pokemon to faint loses – go!"

"Karate Chop, go!" Alaska shouted.

"Dragon Rage," Damian commanded calmly. Darwin instantly jumped forwards, a hand raised above his head ready to bring it down on Charmander's head. However, the Fire type moved quickly, opening his mouth wide as a ball of purple fire formed.

"CHAR!" He yelled, the ball flying forwards. Darwin was going to get hit directly unless he moved and fell into the lake or hit the raised ground next to them, or somehow stopped the move. Alaska was pleased when the Mankey brought his hand down, ready to cut through the attack and then struike Charmander. However, as Darwin hit the Dragon Rage, everyone on Alaska's side gasped as the ball of fire erupted.

"MAN MAN!" Darwin yelled, the force of the explosion knocking him backwards and caused Alaska to flap Paige's wings and fly a metre away to avoid getting hit.

"Are you alright?" Alaska asked nervously. Darwin was clutching his sides and rubbing his head, sitting in the middle of the dirt and looked grumpy. He leapt back to his feet without replying to Alaska and stared angrily over at Charmander. "I know it must not feel good for a weaker Pokemon to nearly defeat you, but you need to focus on defeating him! Go in for another Karate Chop, alright?"

"Brick Break, aim for his legs," Damian commanded, and everyone watched as Charmander began to run forwards looking fairly determined as he raised his arm up. He had proven to be a bit of a threat and Alaska wanted Darwin to wrap things up quickly, but was stunned to see he hadn't moved.

"Darwin, I gave you an order!" Alaska said sternly, her mind racing as she realised her fears were coming true. Darwin simply shook a hand to tell her to stop talking, and Alaska turned and looked at the others, and saw they were as shocked as she was.

"Ha ha, looks like someone isn't doing a very good job!" Chloe sneered, her jeer muffled by the ice pack covering her nose. Alaska was annoyed that Darwin was making her look bad and ignoring her orders, and wondered why he was when Charmander was coming up so close…

"KEY MAN!" Darwin suddenly shrieked, and he pounced forwards with his arms outstretched. Charmander had already gone down to aim for his legs, and suddenly had the Mankey rising over him. Alaska gasped as Darwin grabbed Charmander's middle with both hands as he began to land on one leg, and than raised him up and spun.

"I said Karate Chop, not Seismic Toss!" Alaska yelled, but Darwin ignored her as he spun Charmander around. Damian, Lachlan, Mitchell and the crew all looked shocked, while Amanda seemed furious at this move. Suddenly, Darwin stopped and let Charmander go: he flung through the air and crashed into the shallow parts of Cerulean Lake, thankfully only skidding through mud and not getting his tail caught in the water.

"What were you thinking?" Alaska cried as everyone else fell silent. "Charmander's can die if their flames go out, do you know that?" Darwin once again wasn't listening, and Alaska could only watch as he suddenly leapt forwards, fist glowing yellow with electricity. The cameraman was too stunned to stop things, and Damian, who had been moving forwards to check on Charmander, froze in his footsteps.

"MAAAAAN!" Darwin yelled and leapt over the mud, moving forwards and driving his ThunderPunch into Charmander.

"MANDER CHAR CHAAAAR!" Charmander yelled as he was blasted back onto dry land by the force of the punch and the electricity affecting the water around him. All eyes followed as Charmander crashed onto the ground with a loud thud, and rolled over before coming to a stop by the cameraman's feet. Silence fell between them, with everyone in Alaska's line of vision staring at Charmander looking purely shocked.

"Charmander is unconscious – Alaska and her Mankey are the winners," the cameraman said, still staring at Charmander, and he slowly lowered the device down to his side. For a single second Alaska was glad to have won, but that victorious feeling disappeared as she looked up at Damian's shocked expression and guilt rose up instead: he had offered to battle to make things easier for her, and in return Darwin had nearly killed his starter. Alaska glanced over at the Mankey to see he looked rather pleased with himself as he squelched through the muddy water.

"Darwin, what the hell –," Alaska began to scold; marching forwards on Paige's talons, but froze in surprise as Darwin began to glow. Everyone turned around as Darwin's arms and legs thickened, his tail shooting back inside his body. His main body seemed to grow as well, and Alaska watched the evolution, unsure wheter to be happy or worried with her misbehaving Pokemon getting stronger.

"PRIIIIIIIMEEEE!" Darwin shouted as the light faded, revealing the Mankey had grown into a Primeape, with shaggier fur, boxing glove like hands and a short stumpy tail sticking out of his back. Alaska put on a happy face as Darwin walked forwards, and was partially excited but secretly concerned: some Pokemon were more difficult to train once they evolved and got stronger, so what if her new Primeape became reluctant to obey her?

"Congratulations!" Alaska said, allowing Darwin to scoop Paige's body up and rush towards the others, his arms outstretched. Alaska and Sandy's faces both looked considerably concerned, clearly still shocked by the battle, but Butterfree's face was full of happiness as Sandy saw the evolution as good news.

"That was a fantastic job!" She said, and Darwin pulled her in and hugged both her and Alaska, nearly squeezing their brains right back out. Alaska relaxed a bit now that Darwin was so happy, and was beginning to feel good when she heard clapping from behind. Darwin turned around to face Amanda strutting forwards, doing the sarcastic slow clap Alaska had seen in so many movies. The producer didn't look angry, more with a bored irritated look as if her peace was being interrupted by something buzzing overhead. Alaska noticed Damian had brought his Charmander back and was looking at her with a strange look that tugged at Alaska was some reason, but she had to focus on Amanda and stared at her determinedly.

"Congratulations indeed: I am so pleased you got an evolution through such shady methods," Amanda purred, coming to a halt. "I do hope you are proud of that battle, and the fact you just attacked one of my stars."

"Excuse me?" Alaska snapped back. "Need I remind you of those Clefairy you killed back at Mt Moon, not that you need it after that little jab with Miss Nose-Job over there back on the bridge. So don't even try and pull some little 'oh, feel bad' guilt trip on me unless you want some real trouble." Amanda raised an eyebrow and took another step forward.

"Miss Acevedo, I think I know a few more ways to deal pain than you do," she said, her tone threatening and not matching her devious looking eyes. Alaska thought back to Damian's comments earlier and decided that Amanda needed a lesson in not intimidating people. An idea quickly formed in her mind, and Alaska used Paige's wings to get free of Darwin's hold.

"You don't scare my Amanda, and I can very easily show how capable I am," she hissed, and jumped into the air with her eyes shutting, forcing Paige's body to spin. She concentrated with all her might as she continued to spin, and Alaska began to feel that same powerful feeling engulfing her once more, but this time covering Paige's entire body and moving all around. There were screams, and Alaska hoped it was from the Twister rising up around her. However, Alaska didn't realise what it was until it hit her…

Something powerful coursed through Alaska's mind, something so strong that her eyes opened and Paige's body stopped spinning, but this thing kept her upright: it was blue electricity that covered her entire body, and Alaska could feel the shock waves coursing through her brain. It was the same pain she had felt only a short time ago, and Alaska was glad to finally be free…

For a few moments Alaska blacked out, though she could still feel the painful electricity surging through, and it felt as if her brain was about to explode. Alaska's mind spun around and around and she temporarily felt airless before spinning once more, though it slowly began to die down. Alaska felt more familiar, and she opened her eyes suddenly to find blue sky high above and the Bellsprout peering over her.

"Bell!" Bellsprout cried as Alaska shot up, but she ignored her as she looked forward and beamed: Darwin was a few metres in front, and as he moved around in shock, Alaska saw Paige lying on the ground.

"YES, IT WORKED!" Alaska yelled and she made to move forwards and hug Paige, but suddenly noticed something clinging to her arm and looked down. "Oh – sorry Frances!" She cried, staring down at the nervous Paras and realised that when their brains switched back, Alaska's body must have fallen and nearly crushed the poor little thing.

"Par Par Para," Frances mumbled shakily, and once Alaska was certain she was alright she rushed towards Paige, who was beginning to get to her talons and rub her head with her wings.

"Pidgey Ot Pidge Otto," Paige grumbled as Alaska scooped her up.

"Hey, my body is perfectly healthy, thank you very much!" Alaska snapped back, but there was a smile on her face and she hugged her friend tightly.

"MAN!" Darwin yelled and piled on top, and Alaska began to laugh as Sandy rushed forwards with a high pitched squeal, already hugging an unimpressed looking Butterfree and joined in. Alaska had no idea how the electricity had managed to reach them from this far away from the lab, but she didn't want to look back, simply keep moving forwards and focus on the path ahead. Being in her Pokemon's body had been a very interesting experience, and Alaska was actually glad for it: she had seen things from a different angle, even if for only a short time, and having this meeting with the reality stars simply highlighted the fact they were a major blockage in her quest, and though they had inspired it she needed to ignore them.

"I don't see why you bothered switching back," a voice snapped from outside the giant group hug, and Alaska looked up as Chloe walked forwards, Amanda still standing behind looking a bit shell shocked. "Frankly Avacado, you looked better as a bird!" Alaska simply rolled her eyes and pushed out from the hug. She wanted to tie up these loose ends and push the stars aside for the time being, and decided it was best to leave them with something to remember her by.

"You know what Chloe," Alaska said, standing a few feet in front. "Fuck you," she spat out, and Chloe looked rather stunned. "Fuck you, fuck your producer, and fuck your entire fucking show. I really don't give a crap about you people anymore, and even though I should battle you more often as it seems to do wonders to my Pokemon's confidence to defeat such pathetically trained opponents, I have bigger things to deal with then some future $5 stripper and a middle aged hag who probably hasn't seen anything below a man's neck that wasn't on TV." In the background Damian looked stunned, but Lachlan, Mitchell and the crew were trying hard not to laugh, and Alaska felt fairly satisfied as she smiled widely at Chloe's opened jawed expression.

"You bitch!" The blonde hissed, and she raised a fist up above her head. However, Alaska had been expecting something and lashed out: her own fist struck Chloe's already injured nose and the reality star toppled backwards. Her arms flailed as she tried to balance herself and they clasped around Amanda's neck. The producer and her star collectively screamed as Chloe dragged them down towards the lake. Sandy gasped whilst Paige cheered as the two splattered down into the mud, Chloe even skidding down towards the water. Alaska wanted to whoop and cheer and flipped the Pidgey at them and kick more mud in their faces, but she decided to take a more dignified approach and turned smiling back towards the others, seeing the Bellsprout had come alongside Sandy and looked shocked as well, but the others were all laughing and cheering at their demise.

"Come on you lot," Alaska said, her glee creeping out into her face and voice, "I feel like a proper battle – anyone up to fighting Misty?"




Hopefully you found that more eventful than the last part! This is the last we will see of the reality stars for the time being until well after Vermillion City

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Chapter 24

Here we go: another gym battle! Strap in, because it is a long and bumpy ride!

@Alaskapigeon@WinterVines

Chapter Twenty Five: The Water's Fiery Mistress

"Ooooh, back again are we? I thought you would have at least been on time – Miss Misty is not very happy with you, but you'll see for yourself, won't you?"

"Oh shut up!" Alaska snapped at the robotic voice as it began laughing at her, and she strutted determinedly into the Cerulean Gym, well aware how angry Misty would be and knowing that the reason why she was late wasn't exactly the best or most believable story.

It had been nearly half an hour since switching back, but Alaska and Sandy both seemed to have trouble walking. The switch had given them both headaches as well, though they had managed to numb them off during a short lay over in the Pokemon Center as they healed their Pokemon, including the Bellsprout that had pointed them towards Mitchell in the first place: Sandy didn't want to leave it behind once Amanda and Chloe extracted themselves from the mud, knowing the producers history will lashing out at Pokemon, so the pair now had six Pokemon between them. Sandy offered her to Alaska to use during the battle, but Alaska wanted to stick with her own Pokemon and get a feel for them rather than using someone else's. Darwin and Frances both had moves that were of a type advantage, but as Paige had just been through an ordeal, Alaska decide to focus on taming Darwin and using the strength gained from evolution and have Frances on the sidelines for back-up, fingers crossed she would be up for it.

Paige and Butterfree needed longer to heal, but once everyone else had been topped up Alaska decided to go ahead to the gym. She felt a bit more confident for this one: Alaska had a good team and she knew they could do wonders, and had a good feeling that this battle would go well. Sandy kept rattling on about support and some moves and how she and Bellsprout would cheer on the sidelines, but Alaska kept her mind focused entirely on the battle as they approached the blue reflective glass that made up the Cerulean Gym.

After snapping at the disembodied voice, Alaska and Sandy stepped through the sliding glass doors, which now operated, and stepped forth into the world. Instantly Alaska stepped in a puddle, but her mind was focused more on the gym around here than beneath her: the gym did look a lot like a public swimming pool. There were benches on either side of them and on the opposite wall, painted a lovely blue and provided enough seating to fit the entire town three times over. Alaska had read that Misty and her gym trainers sometimes put on water shows for the town, and she noticed large television screens around the gym to provide a view of the world below. The rest of the gym was rather bland, with areas marked off for changing rooms for both genders, an office for Misty, a staff room, a spa and relaxation area and an events section.

The main attraction, of course, was the pool several metres in front of them. It was currently empty, allowing the still water to sparkle and reflect the glass and the large hanging lights overhead. Though there were several sections marked out for special classes held by Misty, the majority of the pool was open with the only divisions came from large ropes with plastic bits on them to mark out lanes. Alaska couldn't see any sign of a place to battle on. She was about to point this out to Sandy when a door slammed somewhere in the building, echoing around the high ceiling.

"Well well well, look who finally showed up!" A voice snapped, and the two girls turned around as Misty strutted out from her office, accompanied by two girls in blue and white swimsuits with 'Cerulean Gym' on the back. Misty herself was wearing a light blue swimsuit made of a more reflective, plasticy material that reflected the light, and her ginger hair hang around her shoulders dripping wet. It was quite strange for noise to suddenly be around them as the rest of the gym was empty, and Misty's footsteps echoed as she stepped through the puddles that had formed around the edge of the pool.

Alaska would have liked to have been as brave and tough as she usually was, but she was slightly afraid to be on the wrong end of a gym leader scorned. They were strong trainers that had powerful reputations and were idolized within their own cities and abroad: they could do whatever they wanted as long as it was legal (or so Alaska hoped) and she knew that Misty would take no mercy in their battle after having her date interrupted.

"You know, if you went to all that trouble to come and bother me, you could at least have managed to make it on time," Misty growled as she walked around the edge of the pool, staring directly across. Alaska glanced over and saw she was walking towards her end of the pool they would be battling on, so she and Sandy began to move to the right, their eyes not leaving the red head.

"We were held up," Alaska called out. "I would have liked to be have been here earlier, but Bill wanted to talk to me, and than this machine activated and –,"

"Brain switch?" Misty asked, and began to laugh as Alaska's eyes bulged in shock. "It is unfortunate to say that many people have gone there, and many of them end up pressing the button on that machine. I myself have had dealings with it, but that's for another time." Alaska was intrigued by this, and hoped that the shared experience would lessen the tension, but once Misty's laughter died she went back to scowling, still annoyed over the date. Sandy hadn't been shocked at all by Misty's comments, and simply scowled back at her as if Misty had personally insulted her.

"I would have come straight here after we got switched back, but than I wanted to heal my Pokemon, and I only have two of them here," Alaska said, and Misty scoffed.

"Only two Pokemon? Please – I expect most trainers to at least have four on them when they arrive here," she tutted and laughed shrilly. Alaska began to get annoyed and scowled back at her, annoyed at constantly having her lack of Pokemon pointed out to her. "Oh well, if your going to limit me than I will settle for two then," Misty said with a false sigh. "All the better to defeat you with, I guess."

"Why don't you cut the chat and start battling then?" Sandy snapped. Alaska was not sure why Sandy disliked the gym leader so much, but had to admire her spirit as Misty raised an eyebrow whilst giving a slight nod.

"As you wish," she said, and moved towards her spot, waving to her assistants. "The battle will be two on two and fought in this pool. I will send first and move first. The winner will be whoever has the last Pokemon standing after the opponent's two have fainted, agreed?"

"Agreed," Alaska said instantly. She was eager to do this battle and was ready to get it over with, and was willing to take whatever rules came her way to prove herself. She pulled a Poke and Great Ball from her bag before passing it over to Sandy.

"Make sure you crush her," Sandy said in an uncharacteristically vicious tone, and Alaska wasn't sure wheter to be shocked or start laughing, but nodded in appreciation and moved forwards. As she stared at the pool, wondering if her Pokemon were meant to balance on the plastic covered ropes, there was a whirring sound. She looked up and saw the assistants were standing by a control panel. Alaska watched as the ropes moved to the side, leaving a large space the size of an average battle field. Than, there was another whirr as six large rubber platforms floated to the surface.

"I was wondering how my Pokemon were meant to fight," Alaska laughed, but Misty simply rolled her eyes. Two platforms moved towards the trainers, and Alaska was surprised to see Misty step onto one. She glanced at the assistants and they nodded, and Alaska leapt cautiously onto the mat. It sunk as she stood on it, water sloshing up into her shoes, but it quickly rebalanced and began floating forwards. Alaska was rather cautious to be leaving the safety of the ground: she did enjoy swimming whenever she got a chance to, but being in the middle of a pool when Darwin was battling… not the most reassuring thing.

The two platforms holding the competitors finally stopped moving, stopping several metres away from the other four platforms arranged in a square spot, not moving as the water remained still. One assistant moved forwards to the middle to referee the battle, while the other stayed by the control box for some reason.

"Are you ready?" The assistant asked, and both girls nodded. "Release your Pokemon!"

"With pleasure," Misty said, and she threw a Great Ball that had been fully coloured in blue onto the platform nearest her. There was the usually burst of light as the energy spiralled out, forming a brown star with a golden and bejewelled centre.

"Ah Staryu, interesting," Alaska said with a nod, though was secretly shocked and annoyed: it would most likely have Psychic moves, making a Primeape a risky Pokemon to use. However, it was Alaska's only hope at the moment, and she reluctantly sent Darwin onto another platform.

"Ape Prime Ape Ape!" He shouted, his shrill cry echoing around, and Alaska noticed a glint in Misty's eyes that possibly confirmed her theories of a Psychic move in the midst. She just hoped Darwin still had his Mankey abilities, and mentally gasped as Alaska realised she probably should have checked Darwin's current capabilities before sending him into battle.

"Begin!" The assistant yelled as Alaska swore loudly in her head.

"Water Pulse to start with!" Misty yelled, and her Staryu's jewel began to glow blue.

"Jump to another platform and use ThunderPunch!" Alaska shouted, forcing herself to focus on the battle at hand. She watched as Staryu fired rings of water from its jewel with a strange cry, but Darwin bent his knees and bounded up into the sky. Alaska was delighted and for a moment thought he had made it, but gasped as the bottom of the rings, which were growing, struck his right foot.

"APE!" Darwin yelled as he began to spiral through the year. It looked as if he was going to crash into the water, but Alaska clapped slightly as Darwin instead used the spin to propel himself forwards, rising up a fist glowing yellow and smashed it down. Staryu had tried to dodge, but the ThunderPunch struck right on and sent her flying into the sky. Misty looked annoyed while Alaska simply clapped, glad things were fine for the moment.

"Use that momentum for a Rapid Spin!" Misty yelled, and it was Alaska's turn to tut: the move was Normal, meaning it was unlikely to do any major damage to a Fighting type like Darwin, though Misty must have a reason for using it.

"Hit back with ThunderPunch, don't let her get any advantage on us," Alaska yelled. She was calming down about the battle, seeing how Darwin had escaped the Water Pulse with minimal damage and gotten an excellent hit in. Staryu began to fly back towards them, spinning so quickly it was simply a brown and gold blur. Darwin was poised on the platform ready to strike, but it wasn't until the last moment that Alaska saw neither of his fists were glowing yellow.

"PRIME!" Darwin shouted, raising one hand open wide and standing on one leg. Staryu thudded into his fist and pushed him backwards, but Darwin began to spin around, using Staryu's spinning and forward momentum to make an ultimate Seismic Toss.

"DARWIN, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" Alaska yelled, but simply got ignored as Darwin threw Staryu onto a rubber platform. The force was so strong that the platform sunk nearly a metre and moved to the side, Staryu nearly skidding off but managing to come to a halt just in time.

"You should really sort that Primeape out," Misty called, wearing a slight smirk. "You may get lucky sometimes but you won't know when something will go wrong." Alaska merely grunted, staring angrily at Darwin as he bounced onto several platforms, moving so rapidly that he barely stood on them for more than a few seconds. "Anyway, back to the battle! Staryu, let's go with… Swift."

"ThunderPunch this time, alright?" Alaska yelled, though Darwin's bouncing made it so she didn't know if he had listened or not. Staryu got to her feet and her jewel glowed, stars beginning to rise out. Alaska knew Swift would actually hit Darwin as it could never miss, but wondered when Darwin was going to stop jumping.

"APE!" Darwin sad, almost in answer, and landed directly in front of Staryu. The stars smacked into his furry body, doing minimal damage due to the type advantage, and Alaska was actually quite impressed as Darwin's movements, but saw that, once again, he didn't seem to be preparing a ThunderPunch. "Ape Prime Prime," Darwin sniggered, and he suddenly chopped down on the platform in front.

"Yu Yu Star Star," Staryu exclaimed, and Alaska, Misty, Sandy and the assistants all gasped as the rubber platform burst cleanly into two. Darwin leapt backwards onto the rubber covered ropes as the two sides sank forwards, and causing an unstable Staryu to fall directly into the water.

"DARWIN!" Alaska shouted in shock as everyone else fell silent, staring at the destroyed platform. "You can't just destroy things in this gym! Listen to me and this battle could have already been over!" Darwin shrugged his muscly arms as he balanced on the rope, and Alaska began to worry once more: he had the strength and he had the skill, but what if she never managed to control him.

"Destruction of gym property, tut tut," Misty growled. "Staryu will just have to work harder to defeat you! Water Pulse!" Alaska was tempted to call Darwin back and be over with him, but gasped as he suddenly bounced forwards off the rope, not even waiting to get an order to ignore.

"PRIMEY!" He yelled, and a yellow blur showed he was finally using ThunderPunch. Everyone watched as his fist slammed into the water above Staryu, managing to strike the Star Shape Pokemon but doing a lot more: there was a flash and a crackle, followed by a shockwave that ripped through the pool. Alaska screamed as the rubber mat tilted, and she wobbled her arms furiously to keep herself afloat. All of the water was moving and shaking now, but Misty, with years of experience, remained still, and Darwin had expertly landed on another mat. Staryu, however, was floating face down on the rippling surface.

"Staryu is unable to battle," the assistant cried. Misty had a scowl on her face as she brought back Staryu and pulled another completely blue Great Ball from her pockets. Alaska was afraid her clothes would end up erupting into flames with the nasty look coming her way and turned angrily to face the smiling Darwin.

"Listen to my commands for now on, alright?" She said sternly, and Darwin gave a slight nod, though a grin was wide on his face so Alaska wasn't sure.

"GO ALASKA!" Sandy yelled from the side, and Alaska turned and smiled at her, noticing that Bellsprout was alongside shaking her skinny limbs to match Sandy's cheering.

"Congratulations on defeating Staryu, but it'll take more than your psychotic monkey and a measly cheer squad to defeat my second Pokemon," Misty scowled, but it quickly softened to a grin as she threw the Great Ball onto the platform opposite Darwin. Alaska wondered what sort of ferocious Water beast it was going to be, but was slightly stunned when the energy only formed at a height below her legs. The Pokemon was yellow with a cream bill, and its webbed hands were clutching its head. Alaska paused, wondering if Misty was joking, before beginning to snort with laughter.

"A Psyduck?" She said, clutching her sides and nearly falling down onto the soaking platform. "Are you serious?" Misty went back to her scowl, but Alaska didn't care as she continued to laugh. The Psyduck stared at Darwin with a rather confused look, and the Primeape began to laugh as well. Alaska knew Psyducks had a long history of not being particularly bright and constantly getting headaches, and was stunned that Misty had chosen this for her saving Pokemon.

"Let's see how hard you laugh after we've used Confusion!" Misty snapped. Alaska was laughing so hard she didn't notice, but caught a brief glimpse of Psyduck's eyes glowing pink before Primeape was blasted backwards. The great furry beast crashed into the water with a humungous splash that sent Alaska's platform shaking, and by the time she was stable Alaska looked down to see Darwin was thrashing and flailing his limbs, trying hard to breathe.

"The platform is right there!" Alaska cried, but quickly realised what was wrong: the Confusion would have left a secondary effect, and now Darwin was too confused that he couldn't even make it to his platform, making him a sitting, … well, thrashing target.

"I wasn't expect him to get Confused so suddenly, but what an added bonus," Misty said with a laugh.

"What if he drowns?" Alaska cried, stunned at this move and wondered if Misty regularly did this, yet she simply laughed at the question.

"If he drowns it'll be his own fault," Misty sneered, "but we'll put him out of his misery if you want: Psybeam, go!"

"Psy Duck Duck," Psyduck said in a purely nerdy voice, and rainbow coloured circles appeared out of his eye. They shaped over the platform Darwin had been standing on and quickly struck the flailing Primeape. Alaska was shocked and tried to think of a move to use, but there was nothing Darwin could do to get himself out of the water, and the Psychic attack simply hit him head on. Misty clapped with delight as Darwin was forced under, only a few seconds later to pop back up face down.

"Primeape is unable to battle," the assistant declared, and Alaska reluctantly brought him back. Though two Psychic moves would be difficult to avoid, she had hoped Darwin's powerful ThunderPunch could have been put to more use. But as Misty praised Psyduck, Alaska quickly swapped PokeBalls and grabbed a Great Ball.

"GO GO FRANCES!" Sandy yelled from the stands, matched with a chorus of "Bell Bell Bell!" from Bellsprout, and Alaska felt a bit relieved as Frances formed on the platform in front. The smile faltered though as she looked at the size of Frances and the size of the platform she was on, and wondered if this was a risky move.

"Para Par Paras?" Frances said, looking around at all the sights around her and scuttling nervously around in circles before finally seeing Alaska. Her eyes were wide with shock and Alaska felt bad, but she got down on one knee, ignoring the water seeping through her jeans, and leant towards her platform.

"I know you can do this," she said with a smile. "You have good moves and you are powerful, so it will be easy for you to wipe the floor with this pathetic Psyduck." Frances simply nodded at this, but didn't look entirely reassured as she turned back around.

"A Bug and Grass type, eh?" Misty said, her smile disappearing and a serious look going back on her face. "Good combination for facing off my Psyduck, but a type advantage won't save you now!"

"We'll see," Alaska said with a smile, deciding to stay confident for Frances' sake.

"I guess we shall," Misty retorted. "Aqua Tail!" Psyduck nodded and walked directly into the water, letting go of his head in order to allow him to swim across. Only now did Alaska see it would be impossible for Frances to move platforms, and crossed her fingers that things went well.

"Grab the tail with a Metal Claw and hold on tight!" Alaska yelled. Frances nodded, and Psyduck suddenly leapt out on the water in front, making the Paras jump. He began to descend with his small tail glowing blue and growing slightly.

"Psy Psy," he said, and Alaska gasped as it looked for a moment that Frances was in too big of a shock at the idea of being crushed by a duck to do anything. However, almost in the last second, a glowing silver claw shot up and grasped down onto the tail. Psyduck screeched as he landed, his weight pushing Frances backwards towards the end as she struggled to hold on, but succeeded in stopping the attack.

"Shake her off and use Confusion!" Misty shouted.

"Hit him with a Bullet Seed in the back of the head!" Alaska cried, pleased but not yet ecstatic at how things were going. Frances was so terrified about getting attacked and having the Psyduck on the end of her claw that she quickly fired the glowing green seeds from her mouth.

"DUCK DUCK DUCK!" Psyduck shouted as Frances let go, allowing the seeds to push him forwards. Alaska was pleased the attack had hit him in the head, hopefully giving him a headache, but cursed as Psyduck fell straight off the edge of the platform and splashed into the water: Frances wouldn't be able to hit him underwater, and she even began to look terrified at the fact he had gone. Misty seemed to have noticed this and smiled.

"Use Psybeam on the platform and knock it off!" She shouted. Alaska needed to do something, and quickly began to think of all of Frances' moves and all possible strategies.

"Fire a Stun Spore into the water and see if it hits!" Alaska cried. Frances gave a nervous nod and moved towards the edge, her mushrooms shaking as she prepared to release the yellow flakes. However, before Frances could the entire platform was lifted up into the air.

"PARAAAAA!" Frances squealed as the platform sped up towards the lights.

"HANG ON!" Alaska shouted, thinking for a second that Frances was going to crash into the lights. However, the platform paused for barely a second before beginning to topple back down. It began to tip and Alaska gasped as Frances slid to the side, clinging desperately onto the side, yellow Stun Spore flakes rising up as she released them in fright. Alaska wanted to look away, but couldn't tear her eyes away and watched in shock as the platform struck the water, the force tearing Frances away from the platform. Alaska's heart sank as her Paras disappeared into the pool, into a territory where she had no advantage. There was a flicker in the corner of her eyes, and Alaska turned to see the television screens had turned on, revealing a squirming Frances as she sank and a calm looking Psyduck.

"The gym rules state that once both sides have a Pokemon beneath the surface the cameras can come on to see what is happening," the assistant refereeing explained to Alaska's confused look, and Alaska simply nodded.

"So, still think Psyduck is a silly Pokemon?" Misty called almost triumphantly, her smile wide enough you could land a plane on it. Alaska didn't want to let her get to her and simply shrugged, shrinking the grin. "Well, we'll see how well your little Paras goes under water! Hit her with a Water Pulse!"

"Spin and unleash a Stun Spore, than try and swim towards him," Alaska yelled. She began looking between the screens and the rippling water, trying to get a feel for how things were going. Psyduck had released the Water Pulse, the rings moving swiftly through the water and towards Frances as she struggled to move. Alaska gasped as the biggest of them washed over her and Frances silently wailed under the thick blanket of water, but she felt better once she saw yellow particles swirling through the water, Frances using the rings to give her a spin. What's more, Psyduck didn't seem to have noticed them and swam straight into a burst.

"YES!" Alaska cried, beginning to get excited once again. Misty cursed as Psyduck stopped swimming, unable to due to the paralysis sweeping through his body.

"You may have got him stiff, but that doesn't mean you've won yet!" She yelled. "Use your mind and use Confusion!"

"Swim over there and grab onto his neck with Metal Claw!" Alaska yelled, a plan loosely forming. Frances had stopped spinning and was doing her best to try and swim, but luckily had six legs and two huge claws to use in aiding her way forwards that no human had, and Alaska was stunned at her speed as she moved forwards. Psyduck looked towards her with a glowing pink glare and a ripple through the water showed the Psychic energy moving forwards, but Frances' Bug typing allowed the attack to simply wash over her and she continued to kick forwards looking only slightly tired.

"YOU CAN DO IT FRANCES!" Sandy screamed as Frances reached the paralyzed Psyduck, who was unable to swim away. Her claws both glowed silver and grabbed onto Psyduck, and Alaska cheered as the Duck Pokemon squirmed and flailed as much as his paralyzed body allowed. It simply proved Frances did have a lot of strength in her once she was able to access it, and Alaska couldn't be happier.

"Beat the thing off with a Psybeam!" Misty screeched, her voice echoing around the glassed building and showing she was close to loosing it, which couldn't have made Alaska any happier.

"Bullet Seed from point blank range!" Alaska yelled. Frances moved was able to move faster and quickly scaled up onto Psyduck's bill. It seemed she was taking the point blank range to heart, or was simply enjoying being the superior one for once, but Frances turned directly to Psyduck's head and fired the seeds. Psyduck's shocked expression was clearly visible on the screen and Alaska clapped and cheered in delight as he was barraged by the glowing green seeds. However, she didn't notice the fact his eyes were glowing a rainbow colour and his face was beginning to look angry…

"DUUUUUUUUUUUUUCK!" Psyduck yelled, the noise breaking through the water. There was some sort of Psychic shockwave that stopped Alaska's laughter and Sandy's cheering, and suddenly the water around them exploded. A tower of clear water rose up into the air, sending the two halves of the destroyed platform hurtling across the pool and crashing through the ropes. Alaska screamed as the entire pool seemed to be dragged up by the explosion, and she clung tightly onto the sides of the platform as it rocked violently.

"What the hell is this?" She cried, feeling the chain that was used to move it being pushed to its limits. A soft but loud scream sounded from above, and Alaska looked up as Frances came hurtling towards her. "Shit," she cried and leapt up, quickly grasping hold of the Paras as she fell down from the torrent. However, it was sort of like catching a bowling ball, the force pushing Alaska backwards. The platform was already sinking slightly, and she simply slipped through the water and sprawled backwards.

"BUGGER!" Alaska yelled, and shut her eyes to prepare herself for falling in. A shout came from the sidelines, and as Alaska's hairs and legs submerged themselves themselves, something much tougher appeared under her back to hold her upright. Alaska looked around in shock and was stunned to see that Bellsprout's skinny arms had almost quadrupled in length and length in order to reach the ropes to the right of Alaska and hold her upright.

"Cheers!" Alaska called breathlessly, giving the thumbs up to them, which Sandy replied with a smile and a nod. Swinging her feet out of the water, Alaska got them onto the platform and managed to pull it towards her with some slight motions, and Bellsprout helped lever her onto to it. Alaska looked down at Frances and was relieved to see she was conscious, though was thoroughly shaken by the experience and was clinging to her trainer.

"You did brilliantly," Alaska whispered with a proud smile, and Frances simply smiled timidly as her body continued to shake. Alaska looked up at this point, wondering how things had ended for Misty. The first thing she saw was that Misty was dripping wet, the explosion of water having been a lot closer to her than it had to Alaska. Than something yellow caught her eyes, and Alaska leapt up with delight as she saw Psyduck lying on a platform with his limbs outstretched.

"Psyduck is unable to battle, meaning that the challenger Alaska has won," the refereeing assistant said, also wet from the torrent. Alaska cheered with delight, and she heard Sandy let out a loud scream nearby.

"WE DID IT FRANCES!" Alaska cried, and was pleased to see the Paras manage a smile. Alaska began jumping, but stopped quickly once she found the platform didn't seem to want to be jumped on. Misty sighed as she brought Psyduck back, but Alaska was stunned to see her smiling slightly back at her.

"You battled well," she called. "It seems your Bullet Seed pushed Psyduck's constant headache to its limits, a wise strategy." It had all been a huge fluck and an accident, but Alaska was pleased to not have the gym leader angry with her. The platforms began to move back with a press of a button, though Alaska noticed the ruined pieces simply remained half-floating, half sunk. Sandy ran around to meet them, and her happiness for Alaska was infectious and both girls begin leaping around in delight. Alaska was extremely pleased to have defeated Misty: it had been a tough battle and she had been nervous there for a moment, but was pleased to have gotten it over with and that Frances had shone like a star. Darwin, however, was disappointing, but Alaska decided to focus on the positives and would deal with his growing disobedience later.

"THAT WAS SOOOO AWESOME!" Sandy yelled once the platform had arrived, and Alaska leapt off and was bombarded with a tight hug that made Frances squeak. "I can't believe how well you fought, except for Darwin, but who cares, YOU WON!"

"I am glad you are excited, but I don't think Frances can breath," Alaska said with a smile, and Sandy gasped and let go in shock. Alaska laughed and began walking back around towards the doors as her platform sank back to the pool floor, giving Bellsprout and a hug and a quick thanks as well.

"Sprout Bell," Bellsprout said with a smile, and Alaska continued to beam in delight as the group made it back around. Misty was moving slowly over, her assistants rushing around with the Cascade Badge and the winning TM, and Alaska couldn't help but feel happy as she approached the red headed leader, certain it was a deserved win.

That is, until the doors opened.

"Alaska, there you are!" A voice boomed, and Alaska froze as Bill and Mitchell ran into the room, holding the large metal box that contained the metallic weapon Alaska had used earlier. "I've been looking all over for you once I changed back – oh, hello Misty – and than I found Mitchell here standing around those reality show people your always complaining about. He said you were coming here, so I rushed over straight away! You never came back for your gun!" Alaska was taken aback by their appearance, and anger rose up as she faced Bill, still relatively annoyed about being changed into a Pokemon.

"Well, I'm here now," Alaska said bitterly once they had reached her. Bill grabbed the box from Mitchell, who stuck his nose up at Alaska and looked away smugly, showing he was still annoyed with her. "I was going to come back for this after the battle anyway, but I wanted to do something fun after being harassed by my mortal enemies whilst stuck in my Pidgeotto's body."

"Yes yes, I am sorry you got hit," Bill said with an irritable sigh. "The thing is that we all got switched back! On that note, you didn't happen to notice where that blue lightning came from, did you?"

"Just because we got switch – wait, what?" Alaska said, pausing in her rant. "You didn't switch us back?"

"I am sorry to say I didn't: the power wouldn't come back on," Bill explained, looking rather nervous now. "I was hoping you saw who or what unleashed that lightning… it would have to be something with strong Psychic energy to change brains back." Alaska simply nodded, not really listening and glancing nervously back at Sandy. All happiness slipped away from her win as they took in what Bill was saying: something out there had switched their brains back, but who or what? Alaska didn't want to have to worry about anything else asides from her quest, but all the problems and constant questions seemed to be piling up. Everyone gasped as she angrily kicked the stands before flopping down onto them, head in her hands and silently cursing Gideon, Amanda and everyone else who was causing her journey to be ruined.



I hope you all enjoyed that one and that the twist was unexpected (nothing worse than a cliffhanger you see coming!) Blog and Interlude double feature up next

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Chapter 25

@Alaskapigeon@WinterVines

Blog Six: So That City Went Well

Hello once again my fabulous winners. You would think I'd be in a happy mood at the moment – Bill the Science Guy just gave me a lovely new weapon, Darwin evolved into a Primeape and Frances helped secure me my second gym battle. I'll give a single 'Woo-hoo', as the kids say, in celebration, but unfortunately, the low points of Cerulean City were a bit of an overshadow.

Let's start off with seeing some old friends of mine. I am not sure if I mentioned this in a previous blog, but there was this weird disembodied voice around both Pewter and Cerulean Gyms. I had a feeling it was just yet another thing stalking me (but who could blame them – my jeans shape my legs nicely, fellas ) but I think it is just some security thing for the gyms, not that I got a chance to ask – I'll save for the next leader ("Wazzup bro! Before I try and defeat you and get a badge and free TM of ya, mind telling me what's up with the pervy voice at your front door?")

Anyway, the voice was a bit pryful into my life, but than told us where to find Misty on her date (so I began looking around all tree tops as we walked to see if she was K-I-S-S-I-N-Ging.) Sandy and I set off, with my comrade seeming particularly annoyed about Misty having a sexy break. After getting onto the Nugget Bridge, which sounds to me like there should be a chain of fast food restaurants on it, we saw my other good pals the reality stars…. Yeaaaaaaah…. *sarcasm*. They all looked well enough for a piece of soulless, heartless monsters, and though I wished to ignore them, Chloe instead wanted to battle me with, of all things, a Clefairy. I felt like throwing her into the lake beneath us, but than Frances kicked some ass and we were off on our way.

So we continued towards Cerulean Cape where Misty was meant to be, though we went through a forest that was dark and creepy and there's should probably have been an axe murderer or two lurking around in there, all because I saw a shadow. Remember that voice that appeared behind me at the Beedrill Nest? Well, I'm pretty sure whoever spoke was leading me towards the Cape, and I thought "What the hell, let's follow that guy." Probably not the brightest move, but I was hoping to find out who this guy was, and I did end up at the Cerulean Cape and near Misty, so that's a plus. I didn't catch a single lit view of this guy go, so there's another mystery man I haven't quite solved yet (Not in a rom-com way – If I was a movie, I'd hope it was an action movie where Sandy is really a hot guy who aides me in my dramatic quest and we eventually fall in love and have a dramatic kiss as Gideon blows himself and the reality stars up…. ah, dreams…)

So Misty got pretty pissed that we interrupted her date with her hot date (I wouldn't mind having an ol' splash in the pool with that fellow nudgenudgewinkwinksnigger) but agreed to battle me in an hour. With all that time to kill, you just know something is going to come and ruin my day, and that something turned out to be high pitched Mitchell Melton and Bill, the co-creator of the PC System and now resident sea watcher, blog reader and weapon maker.

I went back to his laboratory which was about as flash as 20 year old car with a layer of dirt on the widescreen that some kids have written "CLEAN ME" in (If I ever settle down, I expect one of you readers to come and shoot me – YOU OWE ME THAT MUCH!). Bill was old and grey like my a 20 year old car after the layer of dirt had been scraped off, but revealed that A) no one is doing much to stop Gideon, B) I'm being watched and having my blog read (Hey Bill – clean your house! It's like a 20 year old car in that place.) C) the whole fossil thing is bad news after all, and D) The 'Elites of Kanto' want to make sure I am protected. So Bill decided to give me a gun (clearly hasn't been reading my blog too thoroughly) that is meant to be a defensive weapon, but I am sure I can find a way to pimp this ride. As I was casually testing it, the expected happened: Mitchell switched our brains

I don't know how many of you have ever had your brains switched with a Pokemon, and if you have, contact me via making a support group (BrainWatchers anyone?), but it isn't an all too pleasant experience. It feels exactly like having your brain pulled out whilst having a series of anvils thrown violently onto your body by a violent and possibly drunk body builder. And after you've been through this pleasant pain, you find you're suddenly a Pokemon.

I love Paige with all my heart and she is my best and oldest friend, but never did I want to get shoved into her body. Having feathers and large flappy things to your sides isn't the most pleasant experience, and I really don't enjoy being back at my toddler aged height. What's more, the bloody power grid blew and Mitchell ran off having a man period because I didn't accept his fake apology – what a cruel person I am! So I had to go and apologize to HIM! He hasn't swapped places with that Rattata of his, but NOOOOO, I'm at blame!

I don't really want to relive my experiences as a Pokemon, nor what happened next, and really my battery is starting to die so let's move this loco along, shall we?

Moving as a Pidgeotto isn't pleasant. Mitchell pointed the stars out to us. Chloe was a bitch, so I bit her on the nose and than whacked a camera into Amanda's face. Chloe cried, Damian battled me, Amanda may be a malicious bitch, who knows, Darwin nearly killed Damian's Charmander and evolved after disobeying me, Amanda threatened me, I went to go all Twister on her ass and got turned back into the loveable adorable one and only Me. Chloe had a cried, I told her to shove it and punched her in the nose, she and Amanda fell in the lake. Such fun!

We went to Misty's and got mocked by the voice. She was pissed off, as I expected. I then took a ride on the world's most boring amusement park to battle her: PrimeDarwin was a little shit who ignored me but defeated Staryu, only to get drowned by Psyduck. Frances came in and was a bit scared at first but managed to kick some ducky butt as I expected, causing PsyTard to have a massive brain fart and blow the pool up, I was saved from drowning by Sandy's Bellsprout (BTW, Sandy caught a Bellsprout), caught Frances, Psyduck fainted, I won – WOOHOO! Than Bill and Mitchell arrived and it turns out something other than Bill turned me back to me, so that means yet ANOTHER MYSTERY!

PHEW! That was tiresome. Typing this fast must be as tiresome as masturbating for men. Oh no, I said something inappropriate, sue me! (I'd prefer if you didn't, my lawyer's on holiday alone, and he'll have a sore wrist as well! PAZOW!) My laptop seems close to dying and Sandy bloody well lost my cord, so let's just review the main points, shall we class?

- I've got a mystery guy, a mystery blue lightning summoner and possibly a robotic voice following me, as well as a missing Gideon and the whole Kanto Elite people stalking. I don't even want to think about these things at the moment. If they surface again, I will deal with them, but I am not going to set out to fix things.

- The Reality Show: same as above, but they can go rot in a hole full of sarcastic, hypercritical, flesh eating zombies for all I care. I will care about them once I defeat them, but I don't need to waste a second of my life on theirs.

- Mitchell refuses to talk to me, but I have a feeling he is just trying to make me feel bad, but that prat can go suck a tree for all I care

- I am very concerned about Darwin. If anyone has tips on a misbehaving Pokemon please let me know, as I have no idea how to get me to listen to me or to find out why he is beginning to act this way, but it is a bit of a fright

Asides from that, I am VEEEEEERY happy to have crossed off the second step in my path to league domination, very happy indeed Sandy and I are staying the night in Cerulean before heading down to either Saffron or Vermillion, whichever one tickles my fancy (Not in THAT way ya perve!) And hopefully, things will go without a hitch… though my hopes are about as high as Chloe's IQ…

So long and thanks for all the wishes!,

Alaska

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Blog 6

My Bill is in his sixties as I always saw him myself as being kind of old, and it suits my world better than he and Oak have been working together for many years (as in decades). When he appeared in Kris vs Gold, which is a year after Red/Leaf/Blue, he is old there as well, and he will be old in The First Warriors. I am glad you like Frances, Chloe's demise and all the innuendos, and for that one point after Buzz and Amanda, well, read ahead

@Alaskapigeon@WinterVines

Interlude Five: Six Degrees of Villainous Separation

Once again, Buzz Bolton found himself staring out at the sunset. The sky was alight with orange and yellows today, sucking the blue out of the area around them as the stars slowly began to twinkle into place like many little lights being switched on. It was one of those sunsets you couldn't help but turn towards and find yourself lightening up inside as you stared at the sun as it began to sink behind the skyscrapers, trees and mountains. It helped to make people's days, and cheer them up from the day they had.

However, nothing was going to cheer up Buzz.

He stared out at Saffron City with his mind racing. In a few weeks, he hoped to be in charge of this entire region. He could imagine people screaming and running through the streets as the floors of Silph Co. opened up, and the army he had been developing for five years would rise out onto the streets. Buzz could imagine buildings of his rivals crumbing and falling down inside themselves, balls of fire rising up from their basements. He could imagine men running through the street and grabbing people, killing whoever he wanted and could until every single region was bowing down before him and opening their gates to welcome him in. Buzz had been imagining things like this for years, and sometimes would be sitting at his desk and could see the sun turning into a giant fire that wiped out all his enemies at a press of a button.

But his plans were in turmoil. Buzz clutched in his shaking hands a brief letter that had been sent to him by an Archaeologist from the Oreburgh Museum in Sinnoh, who Buzz had bribed and flown out to Mt Moon to do some evaluation. He kept glancing back at the results given to him, wondering wheter to believe them or not, all the while finally his dreams crashing down around him.

The phone suddenly begin to ring, and Buzz let out an angry sigh as he turned towards it and pressed a button on his remote control to answer it. He had a feeling who it was going to be, and recognized the voice that let out an angry shriek as soon as it picked up.

"THAT STUPID LITTLE BITCH!" Amanda's voice screeched, echoing in the enclosed room. "I WANT THAT SELF IMPORTANT TART DEAD BUZZ, DO YOU HEAR ME, DEAD!" Buzz was a bit taken aback by this, having expected Amanda to be calling about something else.

"I don't care about Alaska fucking Acevedo at the moment darling," Buzz said, trying to keep his voice calm, "but if she is being a bother and you still haven't managed to kill her yet than I know a way to get rid of her within the next few days, alright?" Amanda's heavy breathing was all that came back, but Buzz knew she would be nodding at the other end.

"Fine, but I want a bit of her left over for me at least to personally destroy," the producer snarled. "She ruined my clothes and a camera, my tablet is covered in mud and Chloe needs to get her nose fixed!" Buzz was once again taken aback and sighed angrily, but he needed to focus on other matters.

"Did you get a copy of the report from Dr. West?" Buzz asked, only to get a loud sigh in reply.

"No, didn't you hear me? My tablet fell in the mud!" Amanda snapped back. "God, when I get my hands on that bitch I'm –,"

"ENOUGH!" Buzz yelled, cutting Amanda off mid sentence. "Alaska will be dead within days, alright? We've got bigger fish to deal with at the moment! Dr West said that he searched the area around the explosion and found no evidence of fossils being there, but he found a piece of discoloured rock in a hole that he has tested and said it contains DNA of a Kabuto in it." Amanda's gasp was clear and audible, and Buzz sighed and he collapsed down into a chair, groaning as he angrily kicked the wall, much like a toddler that wasn't getting their way.

"So the little bitches blog was right?" Amanda whispered. "Gideon is back then, isn't he?" Buzz stopped kicking but continued to groan, almost on the verge of tears, though he would never admit it. He turned back towards the phone, staring down at the report in front of him.

"I am sorry to say he is," Buzz said, his voice a lot more whiny than it usually was. "I have no idea how that dick survived for all these years, but he is back and seems to be starting up Operation Lavender." Silence fell between the two, and Buzz looked out through his windows, the low sun casting shadows across his floor as it moved behind several buildings.

"But… but… but Neil… we left him there," Amanda whispered, in so much shock that she forgot how much Buzz hated having his real name used. "We left him there to die… surely he is going to start putting the pieces together, he'll know we are still around!" Buzz stared angrily at the phone, severely annoyed at the use of his real name, but he knew that Amanda had a point.

"We'll have to keep quiet then, won't we?" He replied, trying to gain control again, his mind thinking of what to do. "I want you to focus entirely on getting these stars up to scratch and defeating gyms. Do more training and more gruelling challenges – we are going to have to bring our challenges forwards and I want at least one of them to have all eight gym badges before Gideon can do anything, alright? And don't even spare a thought for the little bitch – she'll be a bad memory in a few days."

"Fine then," Amanda said, a little bit huffily. "And what are you going to do during this time?" Buzz didn't appreciate the tone in her voice and was tempted to give her a warning about it, but had too much on his plate to properly care about it. He instead stood up, the report still clutched in his hands and drawing his attention back. Whatever Gideon was planning, there was a chance it would ruin theirs.

"I am going to keep an eye on our old colleague and see what he is up to," Buzz said firmly. "I need to use the phone to make arrangements – goodbye," and he hung up before Amanda even knew it. Buzz turned back towards his window, only a small orange glow in the distance providing natural light, and he knew that soon light bulbs would turn on and light his path. But Buzz didn't intend to stay around for much longer: with an angry growl, he scrunched up the report and threw it into the bin before snatching up the phone. Buzz wasn't going to let anything get in his way of stopping his dreams, and began dialling a number for the people that could help him.

If things went his way, Alaska and Gideon would both be dead within a week.



It was quite rare for Gideon to feel a feeling of emptiness, but as he stared around his lab, he couldn't help but feel a bit sad.

Over the past few days he had packed everything away into boxes. The murder of the many police officers wouldn't go unnoticed for long, but Gideon had moved effortlessly to secure the area using a special electrical field that would stop anyone from leaving or entering. However, it wasn't going to hold for long, and Gideon had to move fast to make sure he continued to avoid capture.

All of his machines and paperwork had been filed carefully away in a number of boxes that he had stolen from the surrounding houses, and Gideon had teleported them away to a secure facility where no one would be able to find him. It was stressful and irritating, but Gideon had to do it if he wanted to leave.

The last of the boxes had left, and Gideon was left alone in the middle of the empty room. Shelves and bench tops lay bare, cupboards empty, marks remaining in the middle of the floor from his various machines being activated. Filth and dust covered almost every surface, leaving it far from the pristine bomb shelter it had once been. All of the devices such as the fridge and television had been destroyed, and only a few of their parts remained scattered around the room.

Gideon continued to look around, smiling in a slightly psychotic way. He had lived here for many years, and hadn't left it until a few months ago, all his food being collected by his Pokemon. It felt strange to be saying good bye to it, and Gideon let out a little sigh as he once again thought of the inconvenience of it all. However, Gideon did have most of the machines and all the fossils that were necessary for his plan. All he had left to do was to collect a single book, a few ingredients, the blueprints for a Fossil Resurrection Machine and the necessary parts for that. If all went well, his plan will be complete in only a few weeks time.

"Excellent," Gideon hissed to himself, glad to have a happy thought, and decided to leave the bomb shelter behind. He briskly climbed up the ladder and pushed open the trapdoor, stepping out into the night.

It was a pleasant evening, with an inky black sky with twinkling stars. Gideon had missed all of nature's beauties whilst underground and hoped to see more to make up for it. He looked around at the disembodied limbs and charred bits of flesh and clothes that had survived Porygon-Z's Tri Attack and multiple Hyper Beams, and then around at the houses. Many people were trapped inside, worried for themselves and their friends, not knowing what the scientist who had put up the barrier was going to do to them. Gideon had always savoured fear, and he couldn't help laughing to himself as he pulled a button out of his pocket. Over the years, he had built a security system into the bomb shelter, designed to eliminate all traces of him ever being there if need be. Gideon was glad he had never had to use it until now, and felt rather giddy with excitement as he set up his teleportation part of his watch.

"Goodbye Chrono Island!" He yelled, beginning to cackle with laughter. "I hope this is good enough to remember me by!" And he pressed down on the button as soon as the teleportation was ready. Gideon was instantly sucked away, along with the button, but not before its process had been done. A loud beeping began to sound through the shelter hatch, and the people in the surrounding houses looked out their windows at Gideon's cry, wondering what he had done.

Seconds later, the nuclear bomb exploded.


Yes, it is now officially confirmed: Buzz and Amanda are ex Rocket grunts and were there when Red, Leaf and Blue stormed the Rocket facility. I hope some things make more sense now, though I also hope there are more questions you want answered

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Interlude 5

@Alaskapigeon@WinterVines

Chapter Twenty Six: Breeding… Sexy

"Oh Alaska… will you slow down!"

"I wouldn't be walking fast if you hadn't made us late!"

"It's not my fault they were playing Nights of the Dead – it's only my favourite vampire soap opera ever!"

Alaska growled and rolled her eyes, and continued to walk determinedly forwards. It was a pleasant day: cloudless sky with the sun shining above them, though it was cool due to a gentle breeze blowing through Route 5. Most people would find it relaxing, but Alaska was quick to get a move on. She wanted to leave Cerulean City now that she had her badge, and wanted to focus entirely on getting her next one: Saffron City and Vermilion City were both near and had gym badges to collect, and Alaska was focused entirely on getting them. She didn't care about the reality show, she didn't care about mysterious blue lightning, or mysterious voices that seemed to know about her. Alaska only cared about continuing with her journey, and the only problem she was going to deal with was Frances' shyness in battle and Darwin's misbehaviour.

"Alaska, come on, slow down!" Sandy groaned from behind, but Alaska continued to stroll determinedly along. They had been late in leaving the Pokemon Center as Sandy had wanted to watch a TV show, and they then had to push their way through a large group of people watching the news in the atrium. Alaska was annoyed at being late and ignored Sandy, moving quickly despite the large metal box holding Bill's weapon bouncing around in her bag.

One reason Alaska had travelled by herself was that she liked doing things her own way. She had never enjoyed following rules, wheter they had been set by her parents, her boss at the PokeMart, her teachers, her older siblings or her next door neighbour, who had once told her that she couldn't have Paige knock his door down just because a tennis ball they were playing with had flown through his upstairs window. Alaska had looked forwards to have a chance to do things by her own rules, like waking up and sleeping when she wanted, travelling down paths she wanted to, visiting places that weren't just on a list of sights from talk show host Vivian Winters. Sandy was great company and it was nice to have someone to talk to that replied in English, but Alaska was finding travelling with another person meant accommodating what they wanted to do, and she was finding her freedom being stifled.

"I am not slowing down until we get to the gatehouse at Saffron, so you should either start running or just wait a few minutes to catch up," Alaska called out, laughing slightly to herself even though she felt a bit bad for leaving Sandy behind. But all thoughts left her head when she looked down and jumped backwards in surprise: right in front of her, in the middle of the road, was a small blue Pokemon that was tiny enough to pick up, with a small horn on its head, big ears and small spikes on its back.

"Well aren't you adorable," Alaska said, quickly recovering from the shock of the Pokemon being here. She thought back to the Pokemon she knew, and remembered seeing a cartoon version of it in a scarring puberty video. "You are a Nidoran, aren't you? The female version, if I'm correct – the male one is pink, which is kind of odd for a masculine Pokemon, but whatever, I've seen weirder… anyway, how did you end up here?" Alaska bent down and smiled at the Nidoran, but was stunned when the Pokemon reared her horn.

"RAN RAN!" She snapped, advancing forwards and pulling a mean face. Alaska was surprised by the Nidoran's aggressiveness, but wasn't frightened as the Pokemon was rather small and her horn didn't look all that threatening. Alaska instead glanced around, wondering where it had come from: she and Sandy had been walking on the right side of a raised section of land that had been reinforced with stones and cement to prevent landslides. She could see the metal railings at the top at a level appropriate to stop people falling over the edge, but not good enough to stop Pokemon tipping over.

"Finally!" Sandy suddenly puffed right next to Alaska, causing her to turn around and see her co-traveller clutching her sides and wheezing as she tried to catch her breath. "Never make my walk so fast again!" Sandy puffed. "Why did you stop any – oh, hello!" Sandy saw the Nidoran on the ground and bent down to smile at it. "What brought you here?"

"NIDO RAN RAN RAN!" Nidoran hissed.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Sandy screamed, leaping up behind Alaska.

"Really?" Alaska sighed. "Your fine with confronting Misty and get all up in her face, yet a little Nidoran is too much to handle?"

"It hissed at me! Misty didn't hiss," Sandy said defensively, staring down at the Nidoran that was now charging forwards with her head down. Alaska glanced down as Nidoran began attacking her shoe with sharp jabs from her horn, and the trainer sighed as she bent down and picked Nidoran up.

"Let's find a way to take this back up there," Alaska said, holding tightly as the Nidoran fidgeted and squirmed. Sandy rolled her eyes at the prospect of still walking, but Alaska quickly carried on and there was soon a distance of two metres between the friends as they tried to find a way up.

"Why didn't we go up that hill thing in the first place?" Sandy asked.

"Because I have no idea if there is a way up or down from this end, but I guess we'll find out," Alaska said with a smile as she noticed a set of stairs in the distance. She ran the last few metres towards them, still holding tightly as Nidoran tried to free herself from Alaska's arms. But as Alaska began climbing the steps, she saw that it wasn't quite what she was expecting: instead of leaving up to the raised area, the stairs lead to a house directly beneath a sheer cliff where the land above suddenly stopped.

"Odd place for a house," Alaska mumbled, and turned to read a sign that was directly next to her: ROUTE 5 BREEDING CENTER. "Hmm… odd place for any sort of building," Alaska added. She was tempted to turn back, but as Sandy let out a loud groan at the prospect of climbing stairs, Alaska decided it might do them so good to pop in for a few moments.

The door was unlocked, and as Alaska turned the handle she got a waft of heat and a variety of smells. She was struggling to hold onto Nidoran with just one hand and was doubled over as she entered, by a man behind a counter leapt up and rushed towards her.

"So that's where you went!" He said, scooping Nidoran out of Alaska's arms and expertly grasping onto her. "Thank you for bringing Nadia back, though how did you know she belonged here?"

"I didn't," Alaska said as she stood up straight and looked around. The Breeding Center seemed rather basic, with bare black walls surrounding white plastic window frames, though the windows appeared to be black plastic. There was a television attached to the corner of a wall and a table with several chairs around it. The floor was green linoleum, though it appeared to be sun faded and had several holes in it. Alaska wasn't surprised to find things were rather quiet here, though was shocked when a stout elderly woman wandered out from a room behind the counter, carrying two Igglybuff in her arms as she waddled towards an area marked by a white fence.

"What… did I… say… Alas… ka," Sandy wheezed from the front door as she finally made it up, but Alaska only gave her a glance before walking further into the building, the old man taking Nadia the Nidoran with him.

"What is this place?" Alaska asked. "I thought breeding centers were all really fancy and extravagant and rather over the top… not that this isn't nice, it's just not very…," Alaska trailed off as she struggled to find words, but the old man smiled as he put the Nidoran down in the fenced area.

"My wife and I started this business twenty years ago, back when businesses like this were family owned companies with a loyal local community and friendly reputation," the man explained as Sandy collapsed into a chair, too tired to care about why they had ended up here. "However, a few years ago, as you seem to know, a little business called Breederz opened up in Unova. They focused on making Pokemon look beautiful as well as training and exercising them, and they gained a loyal following of mostly woman and gays that built them up. Than they opened more branches and got a reality show, and now there are at least 3 centers in each region and the company makes millions each year: we can't compete with that."

"That does suck," Alaska said, feeling it might have been a bit too blunt but not knowing what else to say. "I'm Alaska, by the way, and this is Sandy. I'm just doing a bit of gym badge travelling and came across Nidoran there and I thought she lived up there."

"I'm Andy and this is Judy," the old man said as he shook Alaska's hand. "So, I'm guessing you found us by accident? That's how they all seem to these days! Just so you know, we are still fully operational, not that it really looks like it, but if you want to leave your Pokemon you can."

"Oh, no thanks… I mean," Alaska stumbled, "I only have three Pokemon on me and I really should be training them: they can be a bit tricky at times." Andy nodded, though he did look a bit hurt. Alaska felt bad, but she really just wanted to continue on her journey and hadn't intended on coming here anyway.

"Who do those Pokemon belong to?" Sandy asked as she fanned herself with her hand.
"These two Igglybuff belong to a little girl away on summer camp, we get a lot of Pokemon for reasons like that," Judy explained as she put the two pink Pokemon down. "Nadia here… well, we don't know what happened to her trainer," the old woman added sadly before hurrying over to begin getting food for the Pokemon.

"She was dropped off last year but we haven't heard anything from the trainer since then," Andy explained with a shake of his head. Alaska still wanted to leave, but Sandy seemed absorbed in the conversation and she reluctantly sat down next to her. "I tried contacting them and everything but didn't get any response. We are meant to only have a six month policy before we release them into the wild, but Judy and I don't have the heart to let them out after that long." Alaska and Sandy glanced over at Nadia, and saw the Nidoran seemed to be threatening the Igglybuff.

"She seems so… lovely," Alaska mumbled, and Andy laughed as his wife brought over glasses of water and a plate of biscuits for them.

"Nadia is just restless," Judy explained with a laugh like Andy's. "I think she wants to get out and battle: a tough little cookie she is, always trying to escape and causing a bit of mayhem." Alaska and Sandy nodded along as they both bit down on a biscuit, but both stopped chewing after a few seconds.

"These are some tough little cookies," Alaska mumbled to Sandy, who stifled a laugh as they quickly spat the cookies into napkins while the elderly couple stared at the Pokemon.

"I do want Nadia's trainer to come back and take her on the journey she deserves, but I can't see that happening any time soon," Judy said sadly. Sandy suddenly gasped dramatically and turned to Alaska, knocking their glasses of water over in the process.

"Ooops, sorry, but Alaska – remember how Misty mocked you for not having enough Pokemon?"

"Vividly."

"Well, why don't you take Nadia?" Alaska was surprised by this, but was more surprised by the water dripping down over the edge of the table. Judy rushed away to get more napkins as Andy glanced towards Nadia, who was beginning to attack the fence, and smiled.

"I think that would be a splendid idea!" He said with a wide smile. "Though, of course, only if you are alright with it Alaska," he added, smiling at her. Alaska glanced over at Nadia, who was still attacking the fence, and pondered: she did feel as if she needed a new Pokemon, and though she would rather catch it herself, Nadia seemed to have a feisty attitude for battling that could come in handy if brought under control.

"What if the trainer returns and wants her back?" Alaska asked. "Wouldn't Nadia be in her PokeBall anyway? I can't access another trainer's PokeBall without their permission."

"Nadia's PokeBall stopped working a few months ago," Judy said as she rushed back with napkins, and she and Sandy began scooping up the water. "I contacted a Pokemon Center and the nurse said that usually means the trainer has deactivated their PC Box. We thought she might come back for Nadia though, but no luck."

"You could have mentioned that before," Alaska said with a smile and moved quickly towards the Nidoran. Nadia stopped and began making snapping noises up at her, but Alaska picked her up and gave her a hug that made her squirm. "I'll be happy to take her with me."

"Ran Ran Nidoran Niiiii!" Nadia said with a squirm, but Alaska simply smiled and pulled a Great Ball out.

"I am going to take you with on my gym battles because you seem like a good fighter, is that alright?" Alaska said, but Nadia's eyes had lit up the mention of battling and she became eagerly still. "I'll take that as a yes then," Alaska laughed, and Nadia nodded and headbutted the Great Ball. The weight disappeared from Alaska's arms as the Nidoran turned to energy and was sucked inside. Everyone watched excitedly, even the Igglybuff, as the Great Ball shook in Alaska's hands. After a few moments, it flashed and clicked.

"YES – I now have four Pokemon!" Alaska cheered, and the others all clapped in celebration. "Watch out Sandy, it looks like we're beating you in the Poke numbers department!"

"Oh Sandy, if you want a Pokemon, we could help with that," Andy said, making Alaska scowl a bit. The old man rushed back behind the counter as Judy continued to mop up the water, and he came back a few moments later with a small yellow egg with brown markings on it. "This was left on our doorstep the other week and we've been trying to get rid of it," Andy explained, "as we don't have the proper facilities to look after an egg. You can have it if you want." Sandy gasped and clapped excitedly, grabbing the egg and pulling Andy into a hug.

"Thank you so much, I have always wanted an egg ever since my old neighbour Tia got one," Sandy said, jittering with excitement as Andy and Judy laughed. Sandy then turned and rushed towards Alaska, who sighed and allowed herself to be pulled into a hug. "Who would have thought it: you get a Primeape and a Nidoran, I get a Bellsprout and now an egg, all in a few days!" Alaska nodded with a large smile, not even faking it as she thought of how her next gym badges were just on the horizon, and she had a new team that was ready to take part in battles.

"I can't believe such happiness could happen on a day like today!" Judy said, almost tearful as she pulled the girls into a hug.

"What's happened today?" Alaska asked. "I hope we haven't intruded on any family moments or anything!" Judy shook her head, looking rather confused, and they saw tat Andy looked the same way as he grabbed a remote from the counter and pointed it at the television.

"Haven't you girls seen the news?" He said, almost in a whisper. Alaska and Sandy shook their heads, thinking back to the crowd that had been in the Pokemon Center that morning, and turned towards the TV.

In a single second, Alaska felt as if the world had crashed down around her.

On the tiny screen above them, they could see the destruction: text scrolling across the bottom said that it was Chrono Island, one of the Sevii Islands, and that a nuclear device had gone off around midnight. A helicopter flying overhead showed barren wastelands of ash: no nature left, charred frames of buildings all that remained. A large crater was shown south of the town of Five Island, and looked to Alaska like a portal to some dark dimension. Reports said that the device had been powerful but was small, only affecting the areas nearby, several islands in the area even being barely affected. But the costs were phenomenal: over five hundred people dead, hundreds more terribly injured and being rushed to dozens of hospitals around Kanto and Johto to deal with the flow of people. Dead Pokemon were washing up on the surrounding islands and residents were being warned not to touch them. Alaska almost collapsed to her knees as she saw an image that tore at her heart: a flock of dead Pidgey, there feathers almost burned off, laying on one of the islands.

"Who could do something like this?" Sandy whispered as she indeed collapsed into a chair, placing the egg down near the wet patch and clutching her chest. Alaska knew who it was though: only one person would have the atrocity to do something like this, only one person would so carelessly take away so many lives and not care at all. Alaska just wanted to scream, and wanted to run out and find Gideon and destroy him for doing this, kill him for all he was done, but worse of all, and one thing that made Alaska hate herself, she hated him for taking her journey from her.




Just quickly: Nadia's capture was planned for this point for a while. I don't want Alaska and Sandy to catch a heap of Pokemon together quickly, as anyone who still watches the anime will see that that never really pays off in the giving-them-personality department, so expect to see things slow down evolution and capture wise. Also, Alaska's semi selfish feelings towards Gideon's act will be explored and expanded on, so don't be too shocked at those last lines

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Chapter 26

@WinterVines@Alaskapigeon

Chapter Twenty Seven: Why Can't the Lights Be On?

"Does this really seem like a good idea?" Sandy whispered, though her voice echoed all around them.

"It's our only option, so it's going to be a good idea," Alaska replied irritably, though she was remaining by Sandy's side now and they were both walking nervously as if trying to walk around a sleeping giant. For all they knew, there could be a giant down there where the walls were meant to be, the lights above them only providing a dim yellow glow for the middle of the Underground Path they were in.

Alaska and Sandy had stayed behind to watch more news, but nothing new was coming in about the nuclear bombing and it was too depressing to stay around. After insisting on paying for their time together, feeling guilty for the small existence they had, Alaska bade farewell Andy and Judy as Sandy wept alongside. Nadia's Great Ball was alongside the others, and Sandy's new egg rested, well wrapped, in her green satchel. Alaska stuck by her as Sandy let her tears out, not for personal loss over the attack but simple shock and sadness that something like this could have happened. Alaska simply didn't say anything, her own feelings about what had happened consuming her thoughts: she was constantly asking herself why Gideon, the only person she could see doing this, had done it, what the purpose of these hundreds of murders had been, and what was she meant to do from here. Was Alaska just meant to walk on and ignore what was happening around her and focus on her journey like she wanted to, or try and find Gideon and put a stop to whatever his plans were?

It seemed the fates didn't want Alaska to proceed with her gym journey, at least not in the way she wanted: Alaska and Sandy arrived at a large gatehouse leading into Saffron City, only to be told by a guard it was locked. Saffron City, apparently, was a regular target of terrorists due to the Magnet Train, Silph Co. and its powerful Psychic gym, and until the source of the nuclear bomb was confirmed, they had locked down the city as a precaution. Alaska shared several colourful words with the guard that shocked Sandy right out of crying, but the guard must be used to it and directed them towards a path the went underneath the city for situations like this. It wasn't ideal, but it would take them to Vermilion City, and Alaska was happy for that.

Entering through a small area the size of a public bathroom with a smell similar to three of them, Alaska and Sandy embarked down a large staircase and entered a long tunnel of almost complete darkness. Sandy was so stunned that her tears stopped instantly and she clung to Alaska's arm, and Alaska felt too uneasy about being here to care. There was no sign of the opposite end or even of the walls on either side, and the two were forced to walk side by side along the middle where the yellow lights flicked ominously above them, almost as if they were about to die.

"Can we possibly move faster?" Sandy whimpered as sounds echoed all around them that they weren't making.

"I think that would be smart," Alaska said, not entirely willing to admit she was scared but would feel more reassured as they moved down these hallways. She came to a sudden pause and swung her bag around. "I think we should send our Pokemon out and I'll get that bloody gun out." She looked to Sandy for confirmation and was surprised to see a pout on her face.

"Why don't I get a weapon?" Sandy whinged. "I didn't even get to try the gun yesterday, and I can't just walk around here with no defence? What if some leapt up and grabbed me and teleported away?" Alaska turned at her, rather amused at her little cry, and smiled as she reached into her bag.

"You can have these," she said with a beam. Sandy stared excitedly, but her excitement turned to an annoyed glare as Alaska pulled out the tray of brownies with the knife embedded in its hard surface.

"No thanks," she replied as Alaska began to laugh and quickly passed the tray back inside. The two girls moved quickly, and a few seconds later Paige and Butterfree were fluttering under the lights, while Bellsprout rested on Sandy's shoulder as Nadia formed beneath Alaska's feet.

"Ran Ran Nido Nido!" Nadia said, pawing at the ground and glaring at the Pokemon around her. Paige looked down at her and then up at Alaska, pulling a rather confused look as the trainer grabbed the metal box.

"I don't have time to tell you everything I do," Alaska replied indignantly as she clicked open the metal box and pulled the small rocket launcher-like device out. Paige gave a shrug of agreement and fluttered down to greet Nadia, but was only met with an angry growl as the Nidoran leapt forwards. "Nadia, don't hurt Paige: she is one of your friends now, so be nice!" Nadia looked up at her new trainer as if the idea of being nice was the stupidest idea she had ever heard, but gave an obedient nod anyway. "Alright then troops, let's just move forwards and keep a look out for anything dodgy: if something moves, attack first and ask questions later."

"Alaska!" Sandy gasped. "What if an elderly woman is having a lovely stroll through here and we attack her?"

"Than we'd better move around her then, won't we?" Alaska suggested with a smile, and she took off at her usual stroll once more, feeling more confident now that she had the gun at her side and four Pokemon with them. Sandy moved quickly, not wanting to be caught behind if someone was around them. Their footsteps and the movement of Paige and Butterfree's wings echoed around them, but Alaska was focused on getting out of there and didn't want to worry about things. However, Sandy suddenly gasped behind and she turned around, wondering if something was wrong.

"I think I heard something," Sandy whispered, quivering with fear and clutching Bellsprout. "It sounded like something was rolling." Alaska paused for a second and tried to listen, but all she could hear was a slightly creeping dripping sound from a leaking pipe, and became less afraid unless the plumbing was going to strangle them.

"I can't hear anything, let's keep moving," Alaska said, giving Sandy a reassuring smile before setting off once more. Nadia had moved on ahead, clearly eager to find whatever might be there, and Paige gave Alaska a judging look. "I was put on the spot, alright!" Alaska hissed back. "Nadia has potential, just give her time!" Paige gave her another look before flying back to be with Butterfree, leaving Alaska to sigh and roll her eyes.

"Hey Alaska," Sandy called out, the echoes of her voice cancelling any chance of silence allowing them to hear anyone, but Alaska enjoyed hearing someone familiar speak in this dark environment and could tell from her voice that Sandy wanted to be talking. "Why do you think that nuclear explosion happened?" Alaska was unsure about sharing her theories, but thought it might be good to voice them aloud.

"I have a feeling Gideon may be behind it," she replied. "After what Bill said about him being a Team Rocket scientist, he must have had access to technology of the sort, and he has had a long time to make a bomb."

"But why would he do it?" Sandy said in a shocked voice. "I thought he was looking for fossils. Maybe he was trying to resurrect them or something, like they do in museums." Alaska came to an abrupt halt and turned around, not sure whether to gasp or smile.

"Sandy, you're brilliant!" She cried, happy now to have voiced her theories. "Remember how he was trying to steal those plans from the Pewter Museum? What if he is trying to bring fossilized Pokemon back to life? I don't think that will be why the bomb went off, as it is probably some sort of strategic move, but this could be his master plan, or at least part of it!"

"You mean the mad scientist just wants to bring some fossils back to life?" Sandy said, clearly not as excited as Alaska was. "If he wants to bring fossils back, why can't he just teleport into a facility and use a machine that is already there? Besides, I read on your blog that you didn't want to stay involved in all of this drama anyway, so why are you putting these pieces together?"

"When did you read that? I only posted it last night," Alaska said curiously.

"You left the page open and I had a quick read when I found your charger," Sandy explained. "Why don't you just tell that Surge guy or whoever the gym leader is your theories, get them to pass it on and Bob's your uncle!"

"Fair point," Alaska said with a nod. "Thanks for that," she added with a smile. "It is nice to have someone to remind me to be sane – looks like I'll be keeping you after all!" The two began to laugh as Alaska turned back around, ready to continue on her journey. She was glad for the reminder to stay out of things, but didn't dare mention one thing Sandy's last words had put in her mind: if Gideon was bringing fossils to life, why wasn't he using the machines already available?

However, just as Alaska turned back around, she could tell something was wrong: though Paige and Butterfree were chatting to themselves just above them all, Nadia had paused up ahead, looking around in confusion. Now that they weren't talking, Alaska could hear a noise: listening carefully, it sounded like something rolling, exactly what Sandy had pointed out before. A glance around showed the blonde was stunned, confirming she had heard it as well, and Alaska grasped firmly onto the gun.

"Everyone, focus!" Alaska cried, and Paige and Butterfree stopped talking and turned around, wondering what was going on. The rolling sounded once again, and Alaska felt crept out as she spun around, trying to find this mysterious foe but getting nothing. The rolling continued to get closer, and it was beginning to sound strange, almost metallic, with a sparking noise every few seconds. Alaska was spinning around, her finger ready on the trigger for whatever was coming her way, getting concerned about what was coming her way. There was a momvent behind her, and Alaska turned around and raised the weapon, but it was barely above her chest when a hand shot out and grasped onto it.

"Run, this isn't a fight you can win," the person said, and Alaska gasped as she recognised the voice: it was the same strange almost robotic voice that had whispered to her in the Beedrill's nest and had helped them escape, the same person she had tried to chase after yesterday in Cerulean City. She wanted to drag the person into the light and reveal their identity, but they let go of the weapon and pushed her backwards. "Go, this is all too dangerous!"

"Who is this?" Sandy suddenly shrieked, running forward and clinging to Alaska for support, but she pushed her away and aimed the rocket launcher at where the hands had come from.

"Why on earth should I trust you?" Alaska hissed. "You could be luring us into some false sense of needing to rely on you, when you could be behind all of this yourself!" But before the person got a chance to answer, there was a rolling nearby and Alaska, Sandy and their Pokemon all turned around. Something had appeared back the way they had come: it was perfectly round, explaining the rolling, and was half white and half red. The large ball spun around, and Sandy gasped dramatically when she saw a face.

"It's an Electrode, Gideon is here!" She screamed and began to run. However, Alaska stared more closely, taking a short step forwards and gripping the gun tighter: there was something about the eyes that just didn't look right. There were red, and were glancing around in a rather unnatural way…

"Oh crap, it's another fucking robot!" Alaska yelled furiously and pulled the trigger of the gun: she had no idea what was going to happen, but just wanted to get rid of the bloody robots once and for all. However, as the ElecBot began to roll forwards, all that came out of the launcher were three large spikes on wire. They hit the robot and bounced right off before reeling back in. Alaska looked down at the weapon as if she had a piece of crap in her hands and decided to run, not knowing how to properly work the gun as she had ignored Bill out of annoyance yesterday, and didn't have time to work it.

"NIDOOOO!" Nadia yelled, running past Alaska and heading straight for the ElecBot. Alaska turned around in shock as Nadia's head glowed white, a Skull Bash being initiated. For a moment it looked like it could be effective as Nadia yelled and charged forwards, but the hope was dashed as once the Nidoran struck Electrode. A slight yellow glow surrounded the ElecBot, and Alaska had only a seconds warning as Nadia was blasted towards her like a cannonball. She dived, but the spiked body managed to hit her hips and sent them both sprawling, the gun and Alaska's bag sliding into the darkness.

"Free Free," Butterfree cried and dived into the black, Alaska realising her Compoundeyes were going to help her find them, but a glance down at her hip showed a five centimetre long bleeding cut caused by Nadia's spikes.

"I told you to run!" The robotic voice yelled, and a foot aimed a kick at the ElecBot. It was powerfully enough and unexpected to send the Pokemon rolling away, but it bounced back a second later glowing yellow all over. Alaska knew what was coming, but only had time to cover her own head before the electricity was fired.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Sandy screamed as the lights above them all exploded, sending hot glass showering down and turning the tunnel into complete darkness. Pain shot through Alaska's legs as a fleeing Sandy tripped over them, and Alaska knew they had to act. Looking around showed the darkness could work in their favour in one way: ElecBot's eyes shone a deadly red and sparks constantly flew from it, giving them an idea of where they were.

"PAIGE!" Alaska cried.

"Pidgeotto Pidge!" The Flying type called back, though Alaska had no idea where she was.

"You're able to fly at night, so use your eyes and try and find the exit!" Alaska called back, and her faithful companion squawked back, a flash of wings signalling that she had taken off. Sandy stirred around Alaska's feet as the ElecBot stayed a few metres away. The invisible figure was no where to be seen, and Alaska wondered if this was some ruse or if the electricity had knocked him out, but thoughts of them left her mind as a figure moved nearby.

"Free Butterfree Erfree," Butterfree said, her eyes glowing a slight pink to provide extra light, though Alaska saw it was actually a Psybeam holding the metallic weapon and her bag up.

"Excellent!" Alaska said with a smile, rather relieved to have them back. "Thanks a lot," she added, and Butterfree nodded as Sandy got to her feet, both her and Bellsprout rubbing their heads.

"Oh my god, the egg, is it alright?" Sandy gasped, reaching into her satchel but Alaska snatched her hands away and passed her bag over.

"Grab the brownies and use the tray as a shield if Electrode attacks," Alaska said seriously. "You lot start running and grab Nadia, follow Paige. I am going to hold off the ElecBot and follow after."

"Good plan," Sandy said, staring nervously across at the ElecBot before starting to run. Alaska smiled as they ran, glad they were out of the way, and turned around to face the robot with the weapon in her hands. It provided a dim glow as she turned a circular part that was meant to change settings and pointed it at Electrode: it was like an old fashioned stand off, Alaska with the weapon and the robot with its electricity. They were both staring intensely at each other, both wishing to eliminate the other.

"I would love to stay and chat, maybe find out who sent you, but I really need to get to Vermilion so I'll just kill you and get going," Alaska said with a smile and pulled the trigger. There was a sound like a firework shooting into the sky, and for a shocking second Alaska thought the cylinder shaped thing that had been fired was a firework. But as it landed on the ground and broke apart, she realised it was something similar: a flare.

Within seconds, a giant shooting tower of fire was lighting up the tunnel, and Alaska suddenly caught sight of the figure: long black coat, hat covering their face, leather boots underneath long pants. The figure appeared to be running, and Alaska wanted to call out and ask what they were doing when she heard a rolling: the ElecBot was rolling around the flare and the orange and red sparks coming off from it, and was heading straight for Alaska. She cried out and began running backwards, trying to change the settings but knew that she wasn't going to make it…

"BEEEEEELLLL!" Alaska turned in shock, which turned out to be good as she knew to dodge the large metal tray flying her way. The brownie tray smashed into the ElecBot, enough force generated from Bellsprout swinging it with Vine Whip to blast it backwards. A Signal Beam crashed into the ground nearby as well, tearing through the concrete ground and pushing Electrode back further, while several purple stings were released that fell short. Alaska turned around with a bright smile to see Sandy standing with Butterfree, Bellsprout and Nadia as they all shot their attacks. They added to the light created by the flare, and Alaska had a clear path to run ahead. Once they saw she was coming, Sandy led them off in a sprint down the corridor towards a flight of stairs in the distance.

"Cheers for that!" Alaska called out with a wide smile, stunned that her friend and Pokemon had managed to pull that off. "That electricity would have blown me up if it wasn't for you lot!"

"Well, next time you pass me a tray of brownies, I'll make sure I use them," Sandy replied, and Alaska was so relieved they were escaping unharmed that she allowed herself to laugh. Nadia looked pleased as they ran alongside each other, and Alaska scooped her up.

"That was a great first job," Alaska told her, and Nadia smiled mischievously. "If I can just control your eagerness to battle, than you'll be a real force!"

"Nido Ran Ran," Nadia said with a smile, and Alaska laughed again. By this time they had reached the stairs, and she and Sandy pounded up them. Paige was waiting overhead, and Butterfree shot up to join her. Noises echoed behind them, and Alaska spared a second to glance back, watching as sparks flew bigger and faster from the ElecBot as it continued to glow a furious yellow.

"We bettet get out of here, I think our friend is having a fit," Alaska cried. They quickly spread through another bathroom sized and smelling building and poured through the door onto Route 6. Alaska wanted to keep running, but the sudden sunlight after being inside was blinding and she had to shield her eyes, placing Nadia to the ground in order to use both hands. She had only gotten a brief glimpse of the tall trees blowing in the wind around them before forcing herself to stare down at the ground, where Sandy had collapsed from exhaustion, Bellsprout lying alongside and resting on the brownies.

"Well," Alaska said with a puff, "I think that tunnel went better than it could have." Sandy opened her mouth to respond, but Alaska didn't hear as something loud thudded behind her. Curious and cautiously, she opened the door behind her to see what was going on.

She closed it a second later as an orange fist of fire rose from the stairs, but Alaska didn't have time to run before the door was blown off its hinges.

 

[AceTrainer14]

Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Chapter 27

@Stellar Haze: The brownies will continue to have a prominent role throughout the series The Mysterious Man does have a larger influence, and is just one of the many mysteries in Alaska's life we will find out more about in the future.

@Alaskapigeon@WinterVines

Chapter Twenty Eight: Getting Stoned

If it hadn't been for the door, Alaska would have been killed.

She tried to scream out, but even she couldn't hear herself over the roar of the explosion. Orange burned through her eyelids as the door was sent flying forwards, the weapon flying from her hands and bits of wood jabbing into her back. Alaska could tell that the explosion must have died down, otherwise the door would have been fully blasted in half, but it had simply turned into a large shield that was pushing Alaska to the ground as shots rose up all around her.

After only a few seconds in the air that felt like longer, Alaska crashed into the ground. The door bounced away but not before hitting her across the head. Alaska rolled through long grass with a loud grunt, her bag bouncing around and making her worry about her PokeBalls and laptop. But once Alaska finally came to a stop, she knew that her friends and Pokemon were more important to worry about.

"Odd Odd Oddish!" Several Oddish rushed away as Alaska looked up, clutching her head as her brain bounced around inside and felt along the temple to find she was bleeding where the door had hit her. But Alaska forced herself to get to her feet even though it made her head pound, and she watched as a pack of Meowth ran past, led by a concerned looking Persian. The worried looks on their faces were possibly just from the explosion, but Alaska didn't want to know what was left behind and looked up nervously.

The building she had past through less than a minute before was now destroyed: the windows and roof had been shattered and a fire was roaring inside, though its smoke paled in comparison to the thick black smoke rising up from the tunnel. The walls remained in tact though, and Alaska quickly remembered that Sandy, Bellsprout and Nadia had been on the ground when it happened.

"Pidgey Pidge Otto!" Paige rushed over, several feathers at odd angles but otherwise alright. She looked concerned as she came over, and Alaska couldn't help but tear up and pull her friend into a hug. "Pidge!" She squawked as Alaska clutched her tightly, but the hug became more gentle and they stayed this way for half a minute.

"Nidoooo!" The sad cry sounded all around, and Alaska quickly snapped out of her emotions as the noise struck her. She let go of Paige and tried to run forwards, but her right knee must have struck the ground hard as it was painful to run on, forcing Alaska to simply hobble forwards. She was relieved to see that Sandy was sitting upright, glass strewn through her hair and clothes but otherwise unharmed, and Bellsprout's small and flexible body had allowed her to escape injury. Butterfree had flown away with Paige and was fine as well, so Alaska focused back on Nadia who was a few feet away.

"Nadia, are you alright?" Alaska called. The Nidoran was cowering where Alaska had put her down, which had been only a few feet from the door. The little blue Pokemon was shaking furiously, and Alaska was shocked to see a cut across her back from flying grass, but her strong claws had allowed her not to be blown away by the blast.

"Oh Nadia!" Alaska said, collapsing down onto her knees and picking up the Nidoran. Nadia's tough personality had disappeared under light of this situation, and Alaska felt terrible for leaving her behind, but could only worry about what might have happened if things had been different in any way.

"I think I can hear sirens," Sandy called out. Alaska looked behind and saw a fire engine racing out of Vermilion in the distance, but there was also a siren sounding much closer. Alaska tried to find it, but turning around was only making her head shake and throb. She could feel blood dripping down her shoulder, but as she did the world began to spin. Paige, Nadia and Sandy all cried out, but Alaska had no idea why as she fell backwards onto the grass, staring up at the sky and wondered why things around her were going black. She caught a brief glimpse of Paige as she appeared overhead squawking loudly, but Alaska couldn't understand why and shut her eyes, wondering if it a little nap would make things better…

***​

You are in grave danger, Alaska Acevedo. The longer you stay on this path, the longer you are putting yourself at risk. If you cross Gideon's path again, he will most likely eliminate you. Once Neil Bolton hears you are still alive, he will stop at nothing to eliminate you. You must stop this Alaska Acevedo, before it is too late

Who are you? Why are your saying these things?

I simply can see the truth you are unwilling to see. Stop your journey, or you and your family, your Pokemon and Alexandra will be further at risk from two forces that are willing to tear our world apart. Stop your journey Alaska before it is too late…​

***​

"Hello there Alaska. It's nice to see your finally coming around.

Alaska let out a groan as her eyes began to flicker open, only to shut them tightly due to the sunshine coming in through a window and shining directly into her face. There was something soft around her head, but Alaska's head still felt as if her gym battle with Brock was being re-enacted on top of her brain. All she could remember was the incident in the tunnel and than seeing the explosion, but every after that was a blur of strange blue light, a shadowed figure that hadn't been human and deep, meaningful voices. The bed she was in felt comfortable, though Alaska began to note she was only wearing a singlet and underwear underneath the thick blankets.

"I don't know what is going on, but I sure hope that whoever you are, you didn't undress me," Alaska murmured and glanced towards the sound of raucous laughter. She had been expecting it to be a doctor, nurse or Sandy, but was surprised to see a grey haired man sitting next to her. He was wearing long grey-brown pants and elaborate purple felt jacket that looked like her grandfather's dressing gown had been butchered. Despite the grey hair the man looked a lot younger, possibly only in his late thirties or early forties, and it wasn't until he had stopped laughing that Alaska's injured head registered who he was.

"Your Steven Stone, aren't you?" Alaska gasped. "You were the Hoenn Champion after defeating Mr Devon, and then you had that really famous battle with Wallace that you eventually forfeited because…"

"I said that I was getting bored and he could have the title and all the glitter coated crap that came with it," Steven replied calmly and Alaska let out a laugh that quickly turned into a cough. "If it reassures you to know, you are not going to be terribly wounded by that explosion yesterday. You have several stitches in your head and they suspect you may have twisted your knee in an odd way when you struck the ground, but you are expected to recover nicely.

"I've been here overnight?" Alaska said in shock, her relief at not being injured being overshone by this fact. "Have you been sitting here all this time and perving at me in my undies?" Steven let out another laugh, but Alaska gave him a look to show she was serious.

"Oh dear, I am not interested in your body in the slightest, though you are a very attractive young woman," the ex champion said. "I am asexual: I do not believe in waffling away my time with a romantic conquest of any variety. My Rock and Steel Pokemon are my only love, and I have my time devoted towards expanding our world's possible knowledge on the legends of our past.

"Well, I am sorry to tell you this, but loving a Rock type sounds like it would lead to some pretty painful sex," Alaska said, and Steven's laughter echoed around as one hand clutched his side and the other patted Alaska on the arm.

"Oh my, your sense of humour is as inappropriate and vulgar as your blog suggests, but I must admit I walked into that." Alaska would have been willing to laugh along, but something the seemingly kind man had just said turned her laughter into a scowl.

"You've read my blog?" She said in almost a hiss. "Let me guess: Professor Oak or Bill or one of the 'Kanto Elites' found out I was involved and sent you here to check on me, just make sure I was still alive and to possibly help you in dragging Gideon out of hiding, or some stupid plan like that?"

"Heavens no my dear," Steven said with a gasp. "I am currently in Vermilion City for a meeting with the Pokemon Fan Club President concerning some theories he has that could help me into my current research when I heard about the explosion. I must admit that I have heard of you through Bill and have been reading your blog, which I read more for its delightfulness than for your account of the grim dealings you've been through. I came to see if you were alright and saw you were on your own and thought it was best that you woke up to someone." Alaska was convinced by the story, but another fear rushed through her that made her try and swing her legs around.

"Where are Sandy and my Pokemon?" She asked as she tried to move, but Steven leapt up and pulled her back around just as Alaska's head throbbed.

"While you got the worst injuries and shouldn't move," Steven warned, "Sandy was not harmed by the explosion, asides from glass landing on her and leaving a few small cuts that were easily treated. She recounted what happened in the tunnel to police officers, from the Electrode robot to the shadowed figure, but whilst firemen have found some electronic parts, there are no signs of human remains so we can only presume the figure got away." Alaska found this interesting, but was more eager to know about her Pokemon.

"Your Nidoran has suffered a cut on her back but the nurse at the Pokemon Center sewed it up, and Paige and Sandy's Butterfree and Bellsprout were healed as well and are currently resting," Steven explained with a smile. "Sandy went into shock for a while and I didn't like the idea of her stressing out at the police station or by your bedside, so she is currently with a friend of yours at Vermilion Gym." Alaska had no idea who this friend was, but lay back in the bed and sighed with relief.

"I am glad the Pokemon are alright, but I feel so bad for Nadia: she'd only be on my team for a few hours and she's already injured," she explained with a sad sigh, staring out of her window at the clear blue sea around her. "Is all our stuff alright?"

"Your bag is here, and I checked through and your laptop and that contraption Bill gave you are all fine," Steven said, "and I found it amusing to see you have those brownies," which caused Alaska to laugh softly. "Sandy's things are fine as well: she was worried her egg may have been damaged, but it was insulated well. She told me about Andy and Judy, a nice couple I have known for a while: it is a pity they don't have the facilities anymore to look after the egg themselves, but Sandy seems friendly and competent."

"She and the Pokemon saved me in the tunnel," Alaska explained. "The ElecBot was about to smash right through me when they pushed it away. I really should thank them again." Steven nodded to this and they fell silent. Alaska felt tired, but she had never been one for lying on her bed at home with nothing to do and decided to continue her conversation. "Is there any news as to who is behind the robot, or who is behind the nuclear bomb on Chrono?" Steven looked quizzically down at Alaska, a half smile coming onto his face that slightly unnerved Alaska.

"You seem quite with things," the champion explained. "Always eager to find the answers and work out what is happening: I know you said on your blog you wanted to ignore things, but I think you stand a good chance at solving things." Alaska felt uncomfortable at this: she didn't want to get further involved with anything, but his words made her think she should be.

"I think Gideon was behind the nuclear bomb," Alaska explained to deflect the statement. "It seems like something he would do, but I am not sure why. I don't think he is behind the robots though: he seemed surprised by the GolemBot, and it would have ended up killing him if Onix hadn't crushed it. However, Sandy and I were discussing things and I think Gideon is trying to build his own fossil resurrection machine but with some sort of added twist." Steven nodded along with this, wearing a look that seemed similar to as if they were having an intellectual debate over tea rather than in a hospital bed.

"Your talents are far too wasted to be in this room," Steven said suddenly, not acknowledging Alaska's theories at all which slightly stunned her. "I am going to see if I can take you out in a wheelchair, just to give you a lovely view of the city, and than we can go and find Miss Samson, alright?"

"Sure, but what about my – ," Alaska began, but was interrupted as Steven briskly leapt to his feet and walked out of the room. Only now that she was alone did Alaska realise how bare the room was, with only one window in front of her and a door to the side, possibly a bathroom on the other but she didn't care enough to check.

All of these things that were happening to her were confusing and frustrating. Alaska had left Viridian City to finally embark on a journey and to show Chloe and everyone what a true trainer without a starter type could do. While she had her two gym badges and four Pokemon, Alaska was annoyed with herself for getting involved in all of this. She could only imagine what might have happened if she hadn't bother to dive into the Beedrill's nest or hadn't gone into the Pewter Museum: would her life be simpler? Would she had ever encountered Gideon and gotten involved in his mad plan, or had to deal with giant robots and mysterious men that hid in the shadows? Than there were all the famous people that knew who she was, the strange brain switching blue lightning and the electronic voice at the gyms that enjoyed mocking her – the number of mysteries were building up and Alaska didn't have the answers to any of them.

Tears of frustration began to build up as Alaska angrily lashed out with her good leg, kicking the sides of the bed. All she had wanted was a nice normal journey, but now she had robots trying to kill her and people who probably had access to every detail of her life that was on record. Gideon had most likely blown up an entire island and killed hundreds of people, but Alaska didn't even know why yet a part of her wanted to go across to Chrono Island and start looking for clues through the ashes.

No matter what Alaska wanted, she was caught up in something bigger than herself. Though the voice in her dreams sounded too real to be part of her subconscious, whatever it was had a fair point that she could only get deeper into the mystery now. Alaska allowed her tears to stream silently down her face as she knew that there was no way she could get out of this, and that things were only going to get worse from here on.