Chapter Six: Sandy in the Forest
Alaska didn't have any time to react: the screaming figure was coming straight for her, unable to control where she was going to land. Alaska only had a few seconds before impact, watching the wide eyed, feminine face coming flying towards her, along with shades of yellow and purple, and only one thought crossed her mind: Shit.
The figure smashed into Alaska, who tried to turn and flee. The trainer too let out a cry as she was sent flying face forwards, the grass soaring up to meet her, several Caterpie fleeing for their lives as she got closer. The weight of the girl was already causing Alaska great pain, and was glad she at least had her backpack on to soften the pain.
With a body shaking thud, Alaska smashed into the muddy ground. Her head whacked against the muddy floor, sending shooting pains right through her skull. The figure remained sprawled on Alaska's back, forcing her to stay down on the ground, almost rubbing her head in the mud. Alaska let out a soft moan of pain, her back feeling like it had just shattered in two. She could barely feel her legs, and Alaska couldn't help but wonder, like most people in this situation, if she would walk again.
This is soooo painful… definitely the most pain I've ever felt… Alaska thought, trying to push her hands into the ground to lift her up. There was a shift in the weight on her back, accompanied by grunts and moans, and than sudden silence… the sort of silence right before something bad happens…
"OOOOH MY GOOOOD!" Someone screamed loudly, sending Pidgey's flying into the air.
Alright, make that second most painful. Alaska winced as she felt her eardrums scream in protest, the shrill cry seeming to echo inside. However, the weight on her back dramatically lessened, and Alaska let out a great 'oomph' of relief.
"Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god, oh my god…" The voice continued to wail, and Alaska could hear the person running around on the spot, clearly frantic at the idea of possibly paralysing someone. Alaska wanted to get up and wring her neck to make her shut up, but was more focused on actually standing up first: now that the weight was off her back, she could feel her legs again. Alaska pushed her hands and arms hard on the ground, sending shooting pains through her body, and managed to lift her body up off the ground.
"Excellent!" Alaska said with joy, and did her best to ignore the pain that was stabbing her back like knives and tried to get firmly to her feet. As she struggled with what should be a simple process, Alaska noticed it was suddenly quiet: the person who had landed on her was no longer wailing, and seemed to have frozen like a creature sensing its hunter.
"I AM SOOOOOO SORRY!" The return of noise struck Alaska like a cannonball, and she had barely stood up straight before a pair of arms were
wrapped around her, tightly squeezing on her already sore back. Alaska could feel her ribs being squeezed as well, and didn't no anyone could hug so hard.
"It's fine, I barely feel a thing." Alaska hissed through gritted teeth, fairly disgusted at the amount of hugging that was going on. She flexed her arms, signalling to let go, and the girl let go and moved backwards, looking very timid and nervous. Alaska could now see that the yellow she had seen before had been the girl's hair: it seemed to be a mixture of blonde and brunette, reminding Alaska of the beaches near Pallet Town.
"My name is Alexandra Samson, but everyone just calls me Sandy, cause of my hair." The girl said quietly, crouched as if expecting to be hit or shouted at. Alaska thought this was odd, and began to examine the girl more closely. Sandy looked around Alaska's age, and was roughly the same height and weight. Her skin looked almost pinkish, giving her a bubbly, young sort of look. Alaska also realised what the purple had been: Sandy was wearing a violent dress with silver white trimming, looking dazzling amongst the green and brown and almost as soft as silk. It flowed elegantly down to her feet, almost covering her purple and white trainers. A dark green satchel bag had fallen off when she fell, and Sandy was now cautiously picking it up. Whilst the dress was very pretty, Alaska was more interested in who this Sandy was, and why she had landed on her.
"I'm Alaska Acevedo, started my journey only a few days ago." Alaska said, doing her best to try and stare down at someone who was the same height as you. Sandy looked petrified, her bright green eyes wide in shock. "May I ask why you were up in a tree?" Alaska asked, and began to walk around Sandy, almost as if interrogating her.
"I'm a new trainer as well: I only started my journey last week!" Sandy replied nervously, trying to force a smile upon her face. "I'm not use to being out on my own, and I let my Butterfree out to stretch her wings, not knowing what was in here. There was a strong gust of wind, and she disappeared up in those branches. I couldn't bring her back into her PokeBall, so I decided to climb the tree to investigate." Sandy finished explaining, and she smiled rather nervously.
"You climbed a tree… in that dress?" Alaska asked curiously. She stared up at the tree: the branches weren't particularly sturdy either, definitely not able to hold up a human.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time." Sandy shrugged. "I didn't expect the branches to be so… brittle, I guess. Oh well, it was a rather fun experience!"
"Not for me," Alaska growled, and Sandy's face went pinker as she blushed with embarrassment. The two stood in silence, not sure what to say to each other: Alaska would like to move on, yet she felt as if there was something being hidden from her. She was about to ask something else, when the sound of a twig snapping sounded around them. Sandy looked petrified, turning around as if expecting to see an axe murderer hiding behind the trees.
"Don't worry, it's probably just a Pokemon." Alaska said, looking around for the source of the noise.
She didn't expect the source to come flying at them.
A cream coloured blur leapt suddenly out of one of the trees, shooting towards them like a rocket. Sandy let out a scream, and Alaska realised the blur was heading straight towards her. Without thinking, Alaska leapt forwards in front of the almost stranger, ready to take the full brunt of whatever this was. She wasn't sure why she was doing it, but it seemed like the right thing to do. And moving made her realise something: the blur was in fact a Mankey.
"Darwin!" Alaska gasped, and she stuck her arms out to block the Pokemon. Her Mankey smacked straight into her, causing her sore back and head even more pain as her entire body was shuddered. But Darwin didn't stop there: practically ignoring his trainer, he tried to leap over towards Sandy, his claws glowing.
"MAN MAN MAN!" He screeched, and Sandy leapt backwards in fright.
"Darwin, what do you think your doing?" Alaska scolded, trying to grab the squirming Mankey and hold him still. Darwin ignored her, continuing to screech 'MAN' and try and get to Sandy. "Why are you so angry at her, what did she do to you?" Alaska snapped, and a wave of realisation came over her. "Are you angry at her because she landed on me?" Darwin paused for a moment and stared at Alaska, realising he had been caught out.
"Mankey Man Man." He replied huffily, and glared angrily at Sandy over her shoulder.
"It's alright, I'm not that annoyed with her." Alaska chuckled, and Sandy let out an awkward laugh as she backed nervously away. Darwin relaxed now, but he still stared angrily at Sandy as Alaska put him down. She was feeling much better now: it seemed Sandy felt even more guilty now, and it had been good to see how much her Pokemon cared for her. Besides, Alaska wasn't the sort of person to deny having her ego stroked.
"Why don't you climb up here and look for Butterfree?" Alaska suggested. Darwin, who was still looking like he'd like to hit Sandy, nodded, and leapt towards the tree Sandy had just fallen from.
"Y-you really mean it?" Sandy appeared at Alaska's side as Darwin disappeared through the leaves. "You're not annoyed with me?" Alaska had only said that to please Darwin, not wanting him to attack the girl, but she shrugged and nodded.
"I guess so: I don't feel sore anymore and I'm not the sort to hold grudges… well, I do hold plenty of grudges, but that's besides the point! I don't have a grudge with you." Alaska finished with a nod, satisfied with the answer. Sandy froze for a second, letting the words wash over her, and suddenly let out a scream of delight.
"Oh my god, that's so awesome of you!" She screeched, her face lit up like a Christmas tree. Before Alaska could react, Sandy rushed forwards and hugged her once again. She was beaming brightly and her sad eyes were now wide and cheerful. Alaska felt another pang of pain in her back, and wanted nothing more than to push Sandy far away from her.
"I'm so glad you're not upset: I can't handle it when people are mad with me!" Sandy giggled excitedly, and leapt backwards in a dance-like motion. Alaska just smiled and nodded, struggling not to make some catty remark about how she'd much like to throw something at her.
Alaska was saved by a sudden, thunderous snapping sound: a huge tree branch from the tree Darwin had gone up was sent flying above their heads, and Sandy let out a scream and jumped into a hug with Alaska, avoiding the branch as it crashed into the ground behind her.
"What's going on?" She wailed, as Alaska subtly moved her foot out from under Sandy's.
"I think I have an idea…" Alaska mumbled grouchily, and her suspicions were confirmed moments later: Darwin appeared out of the green, his long arms wrapped tightly around something as he swirled around in mid-air. The mixed ball of blurred colours was heading fast towards the ground, causing Sandy to scream once more.
"Fr… Terrr….. Fr…." As Alaska whipped out Darwin's PokeBall to bring him back, a grunt came from the direction of the Mankey, but Alaska knew it couldn't be him: there was only one possible Pokemon, and knew this wouldn't end well for Darwin.
"FREEEEE!" A burst of wind suddenly came from the blur, and Darwin was sent flying as the Gust sent leaves flying into the sky. Alaska shoved Sandy, who was screamed once again, out of the way and grabbed hold of Darwin as he came past, the force nearly sending her rolling backwards.
"MANKEY MAN MAN MAN!" Darwin wailed, flailing his limbs around as he tried to free himself. High above them, Sandy's Butterfree glared down at Darwin as the sun reflected beautifully off her wings: Alaska temporarily forgot about her fidgeting Pokemon as she became lost in this truly beautiful sight, the shimmering silver-white light almost lighting up the area.
"Butterfreeeee Freeeee!" Butterfree called down in a dazzlingly sweet voice, but her huge pink, bug-like eyes were glaring down at Darwin, clearly not too happy with being attacked.
"I think you… need to… calm … down!" Alaska grunted, struggling to get control of Darwin long enough to bring him back: finally, after nearly two minutes, she was finally able to twist the PokeBall around and bring him back inside. She paused, panting from the effort to control him.
"He seems a bit… violent." Sandy said nervously. Her Butterfree had floated down, and the two were still embraced in their hug. Alaska simply nodded, her mind racing: why had Darwin acted that way? Was he really that angry with Sandy he lashed out at her Pokemon? Or maybe, like Alaska, he was also getting bored of the forest… it Alaska want to get out of this green and brown prison even quicker, desperate to find some decent trainers.
"I'd better find a Pokemon Center, get him checked out." Alaska said, and grabbed her black bag up from the ground, everything ready for her to head off.
"Oh, of course, I understand." Sandy said, not able to keep the sadness out of her voice. Alaska had been ready to head off but paused, surprised to hear how upset she was. Her Butterfree looked rather upset as well, and Alaska figured they must have the same problem with finding good trainers.
"Well…" Alaska said through an irritated sigh: she knew she'd regret this delay later, but she felt rather bad about running off like this. "We could have a quick battle before you go, if you want…" Sandy's emotions changed as if a switch had been flicked: her eyes and smile lit up again, and she and Butterfree exchanged big beams.
"That would be soooo perfect, I've been dying to find a good trainer for ages!" Sandy said quickly, and she and Butterfree moved further down the field they were in, jabbering delightedly away. Alaska simply smiled as she pulled Paige's PokeBall out and put the bag down: having another battle wouldn't be too bad, especially as Paige would now be up against a fully evolved Pokemon!
It would make the win that much greater.
