Chapter Ten: If You Can't Handle the Heat, Get out of the Hole
For a split second, Alaska thought she had entered some sort of horror movie. Her father was a big fan of classic movies, and the horror genre had been one of his favourites. Alaska was old enough now not to be scared of them, but as a child the monstrous and oversized Pokemon and mutated human beings that rampaged through towns her haunted her nightmares for many years. Many movies had involved the horrific creature emerging dramatically out of or from behind something, appearing before a loud crowd of people that would scream and run in terror as it began to obliterate them.
But this was a much different scenario. The army of Beedrill were staring towards the emerging beast silently, but it was clear that they were excited about what would happen next. The only people horrified about what would happen were currently all stuck to a wall, bugs trapped in a web and were about to be eaten. Damian was trying to cut through Alaska's String Shot, but he was too nervous about the beast that was emerging.
The rumbling was causing the ground-ceiling (Alaska wasn't quite sure what to call the dirt above her head) to shake, sending dust cascading down upon them. The creature was now walking forwards into the light, letting out a roar that sounded purely monstrous.
Now it seemed like a movie scene: Alaska was staring at a creature that was a purely nightmarish version of the Beedrill in front of them. It wasn't normal sized at all; about three times her height with pink eyes that began to glow brilliantly and ghostly. The two poisonous points that normal Beedrill had were now the size of trees, shining in a sleek, metallic way that made them look even shaper and deadlier.
"We're dead…" Alaska said, unable to take her eyes off the creature as it moved forwards. "There is no way out of this… we're bloody Beedrill food now." The gigantic Beedrill wasn't looking properly towards them, simply staring at the following of Beedrill below it. Horrible mental images of the Beedrill all attacking with their sharp points filled Alaska's head, and she shivered as she tried to shake them off.
"Alaska, we won't be dead if you pull your head in!" Alaska looked around, snapping out of her horrific day dream to face Damian. He was smiling a reassuring and gentle smile, and Alaska was surprised to find herself calming down as she stared at him. She also realised that the String Shot had disappeared from around her stomach.
"Swift man, I like it," Alaska said with a beam, and Damian simply smiled as she took the knife off him and quickly slashed at the String Shot. None of the Weedle, Kakuna or Beedrill seemed to notice two of their prisoners were free now, all eyes focused on the giant Beedrill.
"Ready your Pokemon," Alaska said, and quickly rushed towards Sandy. She was still muttering quickly to herself, eyes jammed shut, and didn't even notice that she was cut free into Alaska pulled her forwards.
"Oh my god Alaska, thank you so much!" Sandy beamed breathlessly, instantly back to her airy self. She went to give Alaska a hug, but she suddenly realised the giant Beedrill and froze, jaw dropped and eyes bulging.
"Your welcome," Alaska said, and turned back around, avoiding staring at the monster as she tried to think a plan. But all six of them were starting trainers, and it would be very difficult for them to defeat all of the normal Beedrill let alone a giant one.
"What are you going to do?" Mitchell asked in a shaky voice as Alaska cut him free.
"No clue," she replied bluntly, and freed Lachlan next to him. He mumbled his thanks, staring in terror towards the giant Beedrill, but Chloe the worst of all of them: she was beginning to cry and was whimpering, curled up in mid air as the string held her up.
"Oh get a grip," Alaska snapped, and Chloe screamed as she fell to the ground.
"A bit of warning would've been appreciated," she hissed.
"You didn't warn me you were coming down my vine!" Alaska snapped back.
"You're the one who shook the vine, it's your fault we're going to be mutilated and killed by some giant bug!" Chloe growled. Alaska opened her mouth to retort, and was ready to practically hit Chloe, but Damian appeared between them, looking serious.
"In case you haven't noticed, we are about to be killed by some giant Pokemon," he growled, "and if you two draw attention to us, it'll happen quicker!" Alaska and Chloe remained with their eyes locked in glares for another moment before turning and walking back to the others with Damian. The Beedrill still hadn't noticed their prisoners were wandering free, listening to the buzzing coming from the giant Beedrill as it seemed to be giving them a speech. Alaska was looking around, trying to form a plan for their escape. One thing kept coming back to her, and it seemed to be the only one possible.
"What are we going to do then?" Damian whispered. Mitchell and Sandy didn't seem to him, crouching by the wall and staring at the giant Beedrill and fear and uncertainty. Lachlan was looking rather grumpy, and Chloe was mad as well but appeared to be shaking in fear as well. Alaska was afraid as well, but she knew that they had to and could do something to save themselves.
"If we want to survive, we need to get past all of these Beedrill," Alaska explained. "Once we clear them, we will be able to get towards the middle of the hole and climb back up some vines to safety." The others all stared at her, absorbing in her plan.
"What about the giant one?" Mitchell whispered with eyes wide with fear. Alaska glanced back towards the biggest Beedrill of them all, wondering if her plan for it would actually do anything to save them.
"I have an idea, but I'd rather we got our Pokemon out," she replied, and pulled a PokeBall out of her bag. Darwin the Mankey formed alongside her, flexing his muscles and looking around curiously, and was joined by the familiar figure of Damian's Charmander, his tail flame adding to their light. Alaska was interested to see if Mitchell actually had caught any Pokemon, and was secretly impressed as he released his two Pokemon: the small furry but sharply fanged Rattata, and the golden coloured Weedle that didn't look particularly out of place here. They were both smiling pleasantly at their trainer, and Alaska was glad he had something to entertain himself. Chloe still looked sour, but she released a new Pokemon for her anyway: a Spearow, looking as grumpy as her and rising snobbishly above them all.
"Squirtle's my only Pokemon," Lachlan explained sheepishly, "he's still unconscious."
"I don't know where Butterfree is!" Sandy said, shaking slightly.
"Don't worry, Paige and Butterfree will be helpful in a moment," Alaska replied. "But now you lot," she said to the five Pokemon before her, "we need to clear past all of the Beedrill so we can get to the giant hole. Just use whichever attacks you can and do your best not to get hit with anything!" All the Pokemon nodded, looking eager to battle and defend their trainer's. Damian was passing around something, and Alaska was intrigued as she was passed a large grey rock.
"I guess they could come in handy, if we need to defend ourselves," Damian explained. Alaska beamed and held the rock tightly in one hand, keeping her knife firmly in her other one.
"Brilliant idea! Alright team, let's go!" Alaska said, and they all nodded and turned.
The Beedrill army was staring at them.
Unbeknownst to them, whilst they had released their Pokemon the giant Beedrill had finished its speech. Its followers were staring at them all, pointers raised, attacks being formed ready to be fired. Alaska knew they were going to have to fight for their lives now. She stared down at Darwin, who nodded up at her.
"BEEEEEE!" The giant Beedrill buzzed in its booming voice. The Beedrill all began to rise up, their collective buzzing almost deafening. Sandy and Mitchell were whimpering, and Chloe was taking a step backwards, but Alaska simply smiled, knowing they had one element on their side.
"DOUBLE GUST!" She screamed, and before the Beedrill could comprehend what she said, they were suddenly sent spinning around. Sandy gasped as Paige and Butterfree zoomed out of the hole, flapping their wings so furiously that the trainers were in danger of being blown away. Damian, Sandy, Mitchell and Lachlan all looked ecstatic, and Alaska beamed with pride at her plan.
"EVERYONE GO!" She screamed, and led the charge forwards. The Beedrill had no idea what was going on, but suddenly they were being attacked from all sides. Paige and Butterfree continued to use their Gust, allowing the Beedrill to stay disorientated as Charmander fired a barrage of Ember attacks to set them on fire, and Rattata rolled up into a ball, burst into flame and sped forwards, taking the Beedrill down with a surprise Flame Wheel. Spearow flew forwards and began Pecking at stray Beedrill until they fainted, and Weedle would use String Shot to simply tie them up. But Darwin was brutal, grabbing Beedrill by the legs, heads and pointer and smashing them into rock, beating them until they fainted.
"MAAAAN!" He screamed, and tackled a Beedrill that was about to hit Alaska and used Seismic Toss to send him spiralling away. Alaska called out her thanks before moving onwards, but the noise of the increasing wind caused by Gust was deafening. Sand was being whipped up around them, and Alaska had to shield her eyes as she charged through the parting Beedrill, not wanting to be blinded. But she could see that the Beedrill's attacks were missing, as the Gust continued to send them around and prevented them from doing anything. Alaska watched happily as a powerful Ember sent one Beedrill soaring backwards, and noticed Damian was running alongside.
"His attacks are very strong, I'm impressed," Alaska shouted over the wind.
"That Gust is what's impressive," Damian replied loudly, "I don't know what is up with Charmander, he hasn't been his powerful before. But your Pidgey seems very…" but Alaska stopped listening, thrown by what he had said: if the powerful Ember wasn't natural, than what was it? Rattata's Flame Wheel seemed extremely strong as it rolled past, and Alaska suddenly realised something, and turned to tell Damian. But she was stunned to see he had frozen in his steps, and Mitchell and Chloe were stopping as well.
"What is it?" Alaska asked, and followed their line of eyesight. Before them a row of Beedrill stood there, stingers raised and ready to fire. Green energy was being absorbed in, and Alaska's theory was confirmed: the light that had been summoned in here was a series of Sunny Day's, a weather attack that boosted fire attacks and made Solarbeam charge up instantly. Alaska should have known they couldn't have broken through all the ranks, and simply stood there in fear as the Beedrill absorbed in more light, the giant Beedrill taking slow but booming steps forwards.
"JUMP!" Damian cried, just as the multiple Solarbeam were fired. He and Alaska landed in a heap as they jumped to the same spot, green light exploding over their heads. Ignoring their collision, Alaska raised her knife up, glad that she hadn't landed on it, and swiped at the nearest two Beedrill.
"Get back!" She growled, circling around as she cut the air. The Beedrill seemed stunned at this weapon and buzzed backwards from Alaska, leading them back towards its fellow Pokemon. The multiple Solarbeam had disrupted the Gust attack, and Paige and Butterfree were now fighting off two and three at a time as they became swamped by them. The other trainers were to the fight and alright, swinging their rocks like Alaska.
"Leave us along!" Sandy squealed, running up to Alaska as she threw her rock at a Beedrill's head. "We really need to get out of here!" She yelled, and turned around to see the Beedrill was only metres away. "Oh damn! Alaska, I'm scared!"
"Don't worry, we'll have this over soon," Alaska replied calmly, though her mind was going at a mile a minute, hoping changes to her plan would work. Damian was leading the others to safety, and the Pokemon were making their way through the Beedrill. Mitchell threw some rocks, sending Beedrill scattering and allowing Paige and Butterfree to fly through. Paige instantly flew to Alaska and hit her with her wing.
"Alright, sorry, but I didn't know we were going to be tied up!" Alaska protested as Paige glared down at her. "But good job reacting, you're a great Pidgey."
"Pidge Pidge," Paige replied, nodding merrily, and Alaska smirked. But she caught Sandy's nervous glare and stared back towards the Beedrill. The ones that hadn't fainted were all regathering, moving back into rows and ignoring their injuries. Green energy was rapidly being absorbed back into their stingers, more Solarbeams about to be fired. If they would be hit, they would probably be knocked out, left at the mercy of the giant Beedrill. Alaska had to act quickly, and knew just what to do.
"Sandy, Butterfree is our only hope," Alaska whispered quickly. Sandy was shaking with fear, but she nodded, understanding what Alaska wanted to do. The Beedrill were buzzing excitedly now, and their Solarbeams were ready. Chloe was crying again, and Mitchell was on the verge, their fates nearly sealed.
"BEEEE!" They all buzzed as they fired.
"CONFUSION!" Sandy boomed determinedly. Alaska braced, ready for the attacks to hit them. The green light was engulfing them, and it seemed as if they had been struck down. But Alaska's plan had worked: Butterfree was faster and more developed, and her eyes were narrowed as they glowed pink, all her Psychic abilities forced towards stopping the Solarbeams. Alaska and Sandy exchanged wide smiles, and the others all cheered slightly at their safety. Alaska wanted to hug Sandy, but the blonde turned back towards Butterfree, and Alaska had a feeling something bad would come from her lips.
"Redirect it towards the ceiling!" Sandy shouted. Butterfree responded before Alaska could shout her protest or stop her, and all she could was gasp and watch in horror: the collective mass of energy smashed into the ground ceiling of the nest. There was an instant rumbling sound, and Alaska grabbed Paige and ran backwards.
"MOVE!" She screamed, but Damian, Mitchell and their Pokemon had already moved. Lachlan pushed Sandy forwards, and Butterfree and Spearow moved behind Chloe. Darwin was glaring up at the giant Beedrill, but Alaska grabbed him with her free hand and kept on running, ignoring the giant Pokemon and trying to ignore the rumbling coming from behind them. The roar was deafening, and a cloud of dust engulfed them, so thick it blocked the light and left them all doubling over coughing, their eyes stinging and throats burning. The uncomfortable combination continued for another minute, but finally the dust began to thin, and they were able to hear deep grumblings instead of the tunnels collapsing with earth.
"Is everyone al-al-alright?" Alaska coughed, looking down to see Paige and Darwin's bodies were completely brown with dirty dust. They replied with 'Pidge' and 'Man', looking a bit grumpy but not to fussed. No one else looked injured as the cloud of dust settled, though everyone was particularly filthy now, and Chloe appeared to seething with fury about it. Alaska turned around to face Sandy, who stood there with wide eyes of shock, her sandy hair now dirty, and stared at Alaska rather blankly.
"It seemed like a good idea at the time…" she mumbled, and stared to face her destruction. The tunnel had been completely destroyed, with huge mounds of earth piled up like discarded rubbish. The hole had now completely doubled in sized, and it was only now that Alaska noted how strange it was that the original hole had been perfectly circular. A disjointed stairway of earth had built up, providing them with a much quicker path to freedom as the mounds managed to reach the top. Alaska looked down at the bottom though and couldn't help but feel sorry for all the Weedle, Kakuna and Beedrill that would have been crushed under the weight.
"What do we do now?" Lachlan coughed, brushing dust off of his clothes.
"Get the hell out of here, duh!" Chloe squeaked, looking as if she has just rolled in mud. Alaska had never seen her this dirty before and stifled a laugh as the blonde ran forwards, dust trailing behind her, as began to clamber desperately up the mounds.
"Chloe, calm down!" Damian called, but Chloe flipped him the finger, and Alaska let her laugh heard as her enemy struggled up the mounds, her Spearow flapping overhead. She turned to share her laugh with Sandy, but her friend was staring upwards, eyes still wide with horror. Alaska looked up as well, wondering what she could be staring at.
Sandy was staring at the giant Beedrill, and the giant Beedrill was staring at them.
Alaska could understand why the Beedrill was angry as it towered over them looking murderous. All of its follower were dead and its feast was ready to escape its clutches. But that didn't mean she was prepared for what happened next: the creature suddenly smashed the ground with one of it's stingers, causing dust to fall and the vines to shake, and made Sandy leap up and scream.
"RUN!" Alaska shouted, though Mitchell and Lachlan were already sprinting towards the mounds of earth. The Beedrill aimed for Sandy with its other stinger, but she screamed again and fled. Alaska looked around desperately, and was glad that there was now a lot more natural light illuminating the dirty tunnel. She had hoped that her plan wouldn't have to be attempted, but it seemed like she had no other option.
"Run, get out of here!" Alaska bellowed as she sped past Sandy, sidestepping Beedrill and its stingers and heading towards the pile of vines they had landed on. Her plan was insane, but Alaska had always been the sort of person to do crazy plans. She had been the child that leapt out of trees, ran away from school groups as they wandered through woods, and would try to eat anything that came her way. If she gave up her outrageous at this point, Alaska would have been annoyed with herself.
"Pid Pid Pidgey?" Paige chirped as Alaska let go of her, coming to a stop by the vines. Alaska didn't have time to explain, simply grabbing the end of a thick one as Darwin jumped out of her arms and began to pull on it.
"Grab the other end," Alaska called to Darwin, and the Mankey nodded and quickly responded. The vine was thick enough, but Alaska just hoped they would be able to pull it off. She glanced around to see the giant Beedrill was beginning to beat its wings very rapidly, generating a wind that whipped the dust up. Mitchell and Lachlan were getting close to the top, but Sandy and Damian were running around to avoid the stingers, Butterfree and Charmander moving with them.
"Get out of here, it's not safe!" Alaska yelled and ran forwards with the vine.
"What makes it safe for you?" Sandy cried back, before screaming as a stinger knocked her flying. Alaska was shocked, but she couldn't give up her plan now. Damian saw what she doing and gave her the thumbs up before rushing to check on Sandy. Alaska was worried about Sandy, but had to carry on before Beedrill noticed her.
"Darwin, you go that way!" Alaska cried, the roar of the dust and wings nearly deafening.
"Man Mankey!" Darwin responded, and he moved away from Alaska holding the vine. Alaska ran forwards as well, and the vine began to wrap around the Beedrill. Trainer and Pokemon passed each other, and moments later passed again. They had run out of vine, but Alaska and Darwin were now tugging furiously on the long green plant, trying to pull things together. The dust began to settle, and the beating of the wings died down, and Alaska knew they were being caught out.
"Beeeeeedrilllllll," the giant creature growled, and both stingers got raised.
"Keep at it Darwin!" Alaska shouted, still pulling on the vine as tightly as she can. The Beedrill's legs were beginning to buckle, but it didn't look very natural: the legs were literally buckling, dents beginning to form around them. Pokemon don't get dents usually, especially not bug types… Alaska thought and came to a stop, staring at the legs with such curiousity she didn't notice the stinger above her head.
"PIIIDGE!"
"EMBER!"
"CONFUSION!"
"BEEEE!"
The combined cries were a shock to the system, and Alaska looked up in fear as she saw the stinger come down. But before it could move an inch, a brown blur smashed into the stinger as it was hit by a ball of fire and was thrust backwards. The stinger suddenly exploded, and Alaska dived out of the way to avoid pieces of metal that were now raining down upon them.
"It's a robot!" She screamed before she had even got to her feet.
"Well obviously!" Damian yelled back. "Ember again!" Alaska got back up as Paige flew down looking concerned. Darwin had leapt forwards, smashing his fists into Beedrill's legs as Charmander fired more fire at the machine, which was beginning to grumble and yell.
"I'm fine Paige, I swear!" Alaska said, giving her a smile as she stared towards the Beedrill. What remained of its left stinger was flaming and sparking, and it seemed to be tilting as Darwin whacked its damaged leg. "I think we need to aim for something, like-"
"Don't do anything."
Alaska squeaked with shock as a voice sounded behind her. It wasn't a familiar voice, and it didn't sound human: it was broken up and distorted, the real voice being disguised behind some sort of machine. A chill went down Alaska's spine, and she wanted to turn and face the person, but couldn't bring herself to. The person speaking seemed unnatural and creepy, like being in a room with a dead person.
"You need to run, now," the voice said. "If you don't, you and your friends and Pokemon will be killed by what I'm about to do to save your lives." Alaska normally would have questioned motives behind saving people that could kill them, but couldn't bring herself to put this together. The person was very commanding, and there wasn't a way to say no.
"Come on guys, let's go!" Alaska shouted, sprinting forwards as she covered her head to avoid sparks from Beedrill. Paige was flying alongside her, looking just as appalled and shocked about everything as she was. Damian and Sandy were stunned to see Alaska ran past them, but they began to sprint up the earthy mounds along with her.
"We need to get out of here now!" Alaska explained, beginning to grab at the next mound and haul herself up. It wasn't quite as easy as it looked, and Alaska's arms were beginning to ache before they even got to halfway. The earth kept crumbling at her feet and hands, making it difficult to get up and move, and Alaska could see Sandy was struggling as well. Damian was making good time though, clearly taking the opportunity to escape with Charmander on his back.
"Shit, Darwin!" Alaska cried, feeling awful as she looked back down. Darwin was still beating at Beedrill, who was now leaning awkwardly due to the damaged leg. "DARWIN, COME ON!" Alaska shouted. Her Mankey glanced around and saw how high up she was, and began to move towards her, looking rather annoyed. Alaska turned her attention back to climbing, and was pleased to see she was nearly at the top, with Sandy a few mounds ahead.
"Quickly Alaska!" Mitchell's high pitched voice squealed, and he pointed behind her. Dreading what she would see, Alaska turned around, out of breath, and saw that Beedrill had his other stinger raised, ready to drive it through her. Alaska wasn't near the top enough to get to freedom, and could feel the ground grumbling, turning against her and leaving her exposed and about to die.
"KEEEY!" Alaska had shut her eyes and was beginning to curse under her breath when something tugged at her, and she opened her eyes as she spun through the air, hitting a screaming Sandy and collapsing to the ground.
"Ah, I love a bit of a payback," Alaska smirked as she got off Sandy's back, and the blonde could only nod as she 'oomphed' painfully. Darwin landed besides her, flexing his muscles, and Paige came down and watched. The Beedrill was roaring and screaming, his wings beginning to beat again as he pointed his stinger towards them. But before he could do anything else, Alaska's eyes caught a jet of flame shooting out from the darkness. She watched as the powerful Flamethrower engulfed Beedrill's body, and it began to roar in pain: the roar was more robotic now though, and the way its body was shaking wasn't natural.
Alaska was about to yell at them all to duck when the body exploded. Chloe, Mitchell and Sandy all screamed as everyone was hit by the shockwave. Yellow and black metal flew around as Beedrill's head disappeared inside a gigantic cloud of orange fire and smoke. More explosions sounded, and soon the pit was rumbling as it was filled by the explosions. With what seemed very casual, the opposite end of the hole collapsed and slid down, burying the flames in earth and grass, and stopping Beedrill with it.
For a moment, Alaska wasn't sure what to make of things. She, Paige and Darwin lay on the ground in a heap, and she gave them a quick hug as she got to her feet, feeling all of the pain she'd suffered that day quite clearly in her bones. Everyone else was getting up as well, and sudden footsteps were joining them.
"What the hell happened here?" The crisp voice of Amanda Anderson called, and Alaska got up as the producer rushed forwards, still looking rather immaculate despite the horrible situation. She was being followed by the same cameraman from before, but was now joined by a rather bulky boom operator, holding the fuzzy microphone above the scene. Amanda looked around at her stars, than Mitchell, than Alaska.
"Ah… I might have known," she said curtly, her plucked eyebrows narrowing. Alaska smiled and faked a curtsey as she stood up.
"Don't mind me, I'll just be on my way," she snapped, pulling her knife out of her pocket and twirling it threateningly in her hands before bagging it.
"Wait Alaska," Sandy and Mitchell said simultaneously, but Alaska had already turned, still holding Paige and Darwin.
"Sorry guys, but I won't to be by myself for a while," she explained. "Thanks for the battle Sandy, I hope we meet again soon. And good luck with your training Mitchell," Alaska said simply, and waved them goodbye. Sandy looked rather shocked and sad, and Alaska felt guilty as she began to head through the trees they had come. Damian looked like he wanted to say something as she passed, but Amanda was shooting them nasty looks as she dialled a number on her phone, and Damian simply turned away. Chloe and Lachlan ignored her, and Alaska simply sighed as she headed for the trees.
Alaska simply wanted to get to Pewter City, but the day's events had surely bothered her. The hole and the tunnels had been so perfectly circular that there was little way they were natural. All the Beedrill seemed to know Sunny Day and Solarbeam, two moves they could only learn through Technical Machines. And most importantly was the robot: how had it gotten there, why was it attacking them, and who was controlling it?
Though she wasn't sure, Alaska was almost certain someone had wanted to attack them. And based on the appearance of the strange voice and the fire, someone wanted to save them. The questions were who and why, and Alaska needed to rest her injuries before she got too in depth. There was only one thing she did know of: something was definitely up in Kanto right now.
