Chapter Three: The Bird and the Seed

It only took twenty minutes for the nurse to fully heal Paige and Darwin, but it was twenty minutes too long for Alaska. She had never had a proper battle before. Whenever her older brother and sister came back from the Academy, they refused to let her train with them, never seeing Paige as enough of a challenge. Alaska had resorted to occasional battles with school acquaintances and neighbours, enough to keep Paige occupied but never anything that lasted more than two minutes.

So to actually be facing a real opponent in a real battle, especially someone she couldn't wait to defeat, had Alaska buzzing the whole time she was waiting. She practically ran to the Trainer House with Paige flapping behind her, unable to contain her excitement.

Standing at the entrance, The Trainer's House towered above her, radiating the power it seemed to possess. Rebuilt in its original style, the two storey building was made up of wood panelled walls that parted only at the corners to expose the brick underneath. The green roof dipped down so she could just see the top, illuminated briefly by the sun. With all its browns and greens, Alaska had always thought of the House as being like a tree, and the image only made her smile widen as she stepped through the doors.

"Welcome to the Viridian Trainer House." Alaska was barely inside before a woman in a purple skirt, jacket and hat appeared behind the reception desk. She beamed down at Alaska with a megawatt smile, conjuring up images of some evil lavender robot.

"Um, hello, I'm just here for a battle," Alaska replied, dumping her bag on the desk. The receptionist continued to smile, but it wavered the moment the tatty bag landed on her polished desk. Taking the hint, Alaska awkwardly picked it up and glanced around the room: it was done up like some hipster library, with plush carpet, a hodgepodge of sofas and beanbags, calm beige and maroon colours everywhere and a polished bookcase loaded with books.

"Well, our upstairs training facility is free, but our basement battling room is booked out at the moment," the receptionist explained.

"I'm actually here to go downstairs, I'm… I'm a… a friend of Chloe Carmichael," Alaska said, struggling to repress a shudder. The receptionist struggled to hide her surprise, but stepped out from the desk regardless.

"They didn't tell me they were expecting someone else, so let's just sort this out," she said prissily, and led Alaska across the open space to a wide staircase at the other end of the building. As Alaska followed after, bangs and shouts sounded from above, and she and Paige exchanged a look.

"Don't worry, we're structurally sound," the receptionist laughed falsely. Alaska forced a laugh, but rolled her eyes and gave the woman the finger as they headed down the stairs. The same group of black clad people from earlier were milling around at the bottom, and they all turned and watched as the pair descended.

"Miss Anderson, I have a young lady here who says she was expected?" The receptionist called out. The production crew all eyed her up, but Alaska looked away, awestruck by the arena: it was about twice the size of the ground floor, with four different battlefields, huge green, brown and black pitches made from different material. Wooden stands lined the walls, while a huge desk stood before stands of Pokémon medicine and a healing machine on the back wall

"This room is amazing!" Alaska murmured, and she couldn't believe she was having her first battle her. She went to step towards the field, but the reality crew stepped before her, one shoving a camera into her face. She stepped back, startled; she was surrounded, and the stars weren't there to support her. Chloe, Damian and Lachlan stood in the middle of room, talking while a Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle ran around them. Alaska tried to signal to them, but the crew were swarming around her like flies.

"What are you on about, Lucia? I did not order a fourth teenager." The camera crew parted, revealing a tall, thin woman looming beside the receptionist. Alaska first thought was that she'd stepped into a children's book, as the woman looked like she should be the evil teacher in a fantasy series: her jet black hair was pulled tightly back in a bun, showing off her long, thin face and half-moon glasses; she was dressed in a pinched, charcoal pencil skirt with matching blazer, pointed leather shoes, and only the glimpse of a white blouse for colour. She looked down at Alaska like she was a bug, clipboard clutched like she was about to swat her away. Alaska wasn't easily intimidated, but she could tell this was a woman you didn't want to mess with.

"I am Amanda, Amanda Anderson," the woman snapped out quickly in her clipped voice, stuttering slightly on the S. "Who exactly are you?"

"I'm Alaska, Alaska Acevedo," Alaska replied, accidentally copying the woman's stutter, earning her an even sterner glare. "I know Chloe and I've come to battle her." Amanda clearly didn't like that answer: her eyes narrowed, her nostrils flared, her fingers rapped against the wooden clipboard.

"I see. I suppose you're a trainer as well then?"

"Nah, I just rent my shoulder out to this Pidgey. She pays me in bird seed."

"How very witty of you," Amanda sneered. She looked between Alaska, her crew and the talent and let out a gurgled sigh. "I suppose I will make an allowance this one time – this is only a test, after all. However, I don't want you disturbing our filming again: I am the producer of this show, and I do not take kindly to interruptions. And you won't post anything about this on social media." Alaska felt like she was being scolded by some uptight nun. She pondered on that last comment, wondering if the sole reason Miss Anderson had approved the battle was out of fear Alaska might bad mouth her on . "You have ten minutes."

"Don't worry; I'll only need five." Amanda simply glowered at her and stalked off, leading Lucia the receptionist away. The rest of the crew watched her gormlessly, and Alaska sidled past them and towards the reality stars.

"Oh great," Chloe mumbled as Alaska approached, cutting Lachlan off mid-sentence. "I was hoping you had gotten lost – it's not as though you're that familiar with the richer part of town."

"Nice to see you too Chloe," Alaska said, forcing a smile. "Ready to lose?"

"I should say the same to you." The blonde was clearly annoyed, but she turned and signalled at the Pokémon nonetheless.

"What's got Amanda in a mood?" Damian asked. Alaska turned and saw Amanda was looming over the receptionist, angry gestures making it clear she was annoyed.

"Beats me," Alaska mumbled, but she could see now she really did only have ten minutes. Her cockiness lessening, she turned to tell Chloe to hurry up. However, three Pokémon had appeared, and Alaska paused and slowly looked down at them.

She had of course seen the three before: there was no avoiding pictures of Bulbasaur, Squirtle and Charmander when the registration push started, their faces covering bus stops and bill boards, appearing in every other ad on TV, covering magazines and newspapers. But Alaska had never seen either one of them in the flesh before, and she couldn't help but stare. Squirtle's yellow and brown shell shone in the light, while Charmander cradled his tail as he watched her, oblivious to the fire dancing near his face. Bulbasaur appeared the most apprehensive of the three, stepping away as she watched them, but all three looked up at her with wide, innocent, curious eyes. They were nothing more than toddlers, pruned and polished to be fit for television, unaware of the journey they were about to embark on.

God how she hated them.

"You must forgive them, Alaska, they are only young after all – they're not quite used to looking at monsters yet." Chloe laughed shrilly as she picked up the Bulbasaur, who instantly relaxed into her grip.

"Look at us, we're just like the Warrior Trio, aren't we?" Lachlan said, beaming stupidly as he picked up his Squirtle. Alaska felt her skin crawl and shot him a look, wiping away his smile.

"I'm ready when you are – let's do this!" Chloe suddenly snapped.

"Is using a Bulbasaur against a Pidgey really a good idea?" Damian asked, eyebrows raised. Chloe's smirk waned and she stared thunderously at him, fists clenching around her Pokémon.

"We're both new trainers, type doesn't matter at this level," she retorted quickly, but began blushing and quickly turned to her end of the battlefield. "Hurry up, Acevedo!"

"Coming, coming," Alaska said, shaking her head and snapping out of her thoughts. She led Paige down to the opposite end, and the crew stepped forwards: a microphone appeared in the air, two cameramen positioned themselves around the field, and one of the producers stepped forwards to act as referee.

"This is just a test at the moment, so there will only be one take," the bristle-faced youth said. "The battle ends when one of the Pokémon is unable to battle. We just need a few seconds to check everything's working, so if you can prepare yourselves…"

"Are you ready, Bulbasaur? This will be fun!" Chloe told her new starter, placing him between her feet before looking wildly up at Alaska.

"Bulba Bulb!" Bulbasaur happily waddled forwards, his little green seed shaking with each step he did.

It'll be fun for someone, Alaska thought. "Alright Paige, ready?"

"Pidgey Pidge Pid!" Paige chirped as she took off, fluttering towards the rafters. Alaska smiled and she looked determinedly across at her opponent: she was finally here, finally having her first battle. And she was going to fight a starter, one of the Kanto starters… she couldn't stuff this up.

"Alright, we're ready," the producer yelled. "How about you two… nodding from both, I like it – alright then, go!"

"Tackle!" Chloe yelled, pointing overdramatically at Paige.

"Sand Attack," Alaska countered, putting all her focus on the two Pokémon. Bulbasaur kicked his legs and prepared to run, but Paige dove down before he knew what was happening: she looked like she would hit the ground, but swooped up at the last second, dragging her wing over the ground and flicking it towards her opponent.

"Saur!" Bulbasaur yelled as dust and dirt got in his eyes, instantly blinding him. Still crying, he ran forwards without any knowledge of where he was going, simply going for where Paige had been a moment ago. However, she had flown back up to the roof, and Bulbasaur pathetically ran into the wall.

"She isn't that hard to spot, use Tackle again!" Chloe wailed, and Alaska saw her eyes flicker between the cameras, clearly more focussed on her image than the battle at hand.

"You do know that Sand Attack lowers the accuracy of your Pokémon's moves, and Tackle already has a low accuracy?"

"Um… I know that – it's just…"

"Hit him with Gust!" Chloe fell silent at the interruption, and watched in horror as Paige frantically flapped her wings: the generated wind hit Bulbasaur square in the face, sending him hurtling backwards. As the boom operator struggled to control his microphone in the gust, the cameras captured as the Grass-type soared over the field. Chloe squealed and raised her arms, unable to stop the unavoidable, and Bulbasaur crashed into her, sending them both tumbling over. Lachlan let out a snort of laughter that echoed throughout the room, and Alaska's serious gaze faded at the sight of Chloe flailing on the field. She let out a single hoot, and soon was struggling to stand up straight

"B-b-b-but… this isn't over!" Chloe shrieked.

"Oh, I think it is!" Alaska said breathlessly. "Finish this Paige: QUICK ATTACK OF DOOM!" Paige stopped smirking and shot forwards at an alarming speed, white energy shooting from her wings as she soared down. Chloe screamed and practically threw Bulbasaur away in defence, and Paige hit him in his airborne underbelly. The smash as the Seed Pokémon hit the wall made Alaska cringe, but as his unmoving body fell to the floor, a strange, joyous sensation rose through her body.

"Bulbasaur is unable to battle, meaning Alaska is our winner!" The producer yelled. Alaska paused for a second, taking those words in, and then she screamed and jumped into the air.

"We did it Paige, we won our first battle!" She shouted, pulling the Bird Pokémon in and hugging her tight. Her body was shaking with excitement; she could barely see straight; her mind was a mess. Alaska knew only one thing: she had won her first battle, and that could never be taken away from her.

But as her joy consumed her, a hammering sound began to echo. Alaska looked up and saw Amanda walking towards them, high heels rapping against the hard surface of the battlefield.

Looks like my ten minutes is up. "It was lovely to meet you all," she said quickly, waving to Damian and Lachlan and hoisting her bag onto her shoulder. The two looked amused and impressed, but weren't saying anything. "I suppose this is goodbye… for now," she added, winking at Amanda, and quickly skirted across the field. The producer paused, eye twitching, and Alaska rushed out of her grip. No one stopped her as she left, the cameras simply following her up the stairs as she fled from their lives.