Chapter Twelve: Follow the Shadows, He Said!

Alaska couldn't help but cry out as she fell towards the sand. The electronic voice had been vague in his warning, but she knew falling into this wasn't going to be very good. Would it kill her… surely not: if trainers were constantly being killed by quick sand, Alaska had a feeling that the Pokemon League would do something about it. There was only one other option: the sand would lead somewhere.

But than the particles quickly rose up, and Alaska shut her eyes and mouth as she plunged through. She had been expecting it to be hard, but Alaska found herself simply falling through at the same pace as sinking through something slightly congealed. The sand was moving against her body like many tiny hands touching her, and Alaska didn't quite enjoy the feeling all that much.

If this is what all the other bloody gyms are like, I'm not having a bar of it! Alaska thought grouchily as the sand managed to sting her ears, creeping into every nook and cranny of her clothes. She clutched tightly onto Darwin's PokeBall, not wanting it to get lost forever amongst the sand. Her body was beginning to roll, the sand somehow spinning her around. Alaska was beginning to feel dizzy and itchy, and wanted nothing more than to climb out of the pit and pushed Brock in to see how he liked it. Her body was beginning to rise up, and Alaska found herself going fasted, the sand beginning to push violently against her. Alaska was desperate to get out of this demented ride, and a few choice words were forming for whoever was waiting on the other end….

With a sudden popping sound, Alaska found the weight lessen off her entire body. In fact, Alaska found that was entirely… weightless. She opened her eyes, ready to find herself hurtling through space via a strange sandy wormhole, but instead found that she was flying a few feet above the ground.

"BUGGER!" Alaska growled, and readied for the impact as she hurtled towards the ground. She bent her knees to absorb the blow, and put her bag around her middle to stop any pain. Unfortunately, Alaska didn't plan it very well: her legs smashed in the ground at a powerful force, causing Alaska to fall flat onto the ground. Darwin's PokeBall flew out of her hand and burst open as Alaska's hand slid across the gravel, and her bag burst open, causing Paige's PokeBall to roll out as well.

"Bastardised bloody gym!" Alaska growled, staring down at her body: her hands were raw and scratched painfully, blood beginning to flow, whilst the knees on her pants had been torn, badly grazing her knees.

"Pidgey Pidge Pidgey?" Paige fluttered down, clutching her own PokeBall and Darwin's in her talons, staring at Alaska with wide eyes of horror. Darwin, meanwhile, was glaring towards the gym, making Karate Chop motions in mid air.

"I'll be alright, nothing that can't be fixed up," Alaska said with a sigh, and reached into her bag for some of the plasters her mother had insisted she pack before going on her journey. "I'm more annoyed about the gym – Brock wants me to catch another Pokemon or tain more before I battle him."

"MAN?" Darwin squealed angrily, wheeling around in mid-chop. Alaska sadly nodded, knowing that Darwin had been looking forward to this match for a while. "MANKEY MAN MAN MAN KEEEEY!" The Mankey yelled angrily, and he smashed his fist into the ground. The tile cracked into pieces, the attack so powerful that a bit whacked Paige on the head.

"Pidgey Gee Gee Pidge!" Paige snapped, shaking a fist angrily. Alaska simply sighed again, knowing how Darwin felt. She was willing to drive her own fists into the ground, but she didn't want to injure them anymore. As she wiped the blood away and stuck the plasters on, Alaska couldn't help but feel a bit useless. She had travelled all this way from Pallet, gone through the death trap that had been Viridian Forest, trained her Pokemon up as much as she thought necessary, yet it didn't seem to be enough. Alaska had no idea how much more she was meant to train them. She had received comments on her blog that Brock was a real pushover: did the gym leader not see Alaska as a worthy enough opponent? Had this trip be worth anything if she wasn't even going to be given a chance to prove herself? Alaska could see Chloe's laughing face floating above her eyes, hear the sound in her ears.

I knew you couldn't do it! Your just a poor, useless loser! And look at that outfit… it looks like an outlet store threw up and used it clothes to mop up the mess!

"Rot in hell!" Alaska growled, knowing perfectly well Chloe wasn't there (even though she was quite pleased how well she could conjure up a Chloe-grade pathetic insult), but lashed out anyway.

"PIDGE!" Paige gasped as Alaska accidentally whacked her in the face. Alaska gasped and clasped her injured hands to her face as Darwin began to snigger behind them.

"Oh my gosh, I'm really sorry!" Alaska said quickly, getting back to her feet. Paige simply stared at her, a bemused look on her face. Alaska didn't like it, and quickly realised why: Paige raised her talons and threw the two PokeBalls forwards, giving them an extra whack with her wings. Darwin fell the ground laughing as both balls hit Alaska square in the face, leaving perfectly circular red marks. Paige fell the ground as well as she covered her mouth with both wings, trying hard not to laugh at Alaska's face. The trainer looked down, her face a cross between anger and amusement, and simply sighed.

"I'm going to get you for that!" She called, and lunged forwards. Paige took off into the air, laughing loudly, as Alaska jokingly clawed after the bird. The annoyance at being stopped from entering the gym quickly left, and Alaska was glad to simply play with her oldest friend for the first time in ages. Though her knees hurt and Darwin's jumping around threatened to trip her up, Alaska simply laughed and laughed, ready to do this for hours.

A loud horn suddenly interrupted their perfect day.

The sound was loud, rude and unnecessary, and managed to pause Alaska and Paige in their tracks. A small red car had screeched to a halt a few metres away, the male driver poking his head out of the window and yelling at the person who had, presumably, run right in front of him. Alaska glanced around, wondering who was the cause of all of this of commotion, but couldn't see anyone else in sight.

"Gee Pidge," Paige whispered, and pointed towards the side of a nearby building. Alaska followed were she was pointing and finally saw who the man was shouting at: it was a figure, gender and age untellable from this distance, though the person was slim and tall and wearing dark clothing. They didn't seem to care at all about nearly causing an accident, simply rushing away down the street.

Instantly, Alaska thought back to what had happened in the Beedrill nest. There had been the voice that spoke to her: the creepy, unnatural, chilling voice that she didn't have a face to associate it with. The way this figure was walking, as if it was hoping to get away quickly and without being noticed, Alaska couldn't help but wonder who it was.

"Come on guys, we're going," Alaska said instantly, and bent down and grabbed the PokeBalls and her bag. Paige and Darwin exchanged a glance, but they simply nodded, Paige landing on one shoulder and Darwin beginning to hop alongside. Alaska knew she should be training, getting ready to face Brock again, but this figure seemed too mysterious, and she had to know why and where they were going, if only to solve the question that had been bothering her for days.

The path led, rather surprisingly, towards the Pewter City Museum.

Alaska, Paige and Darwin followed the shadowy figure for ten minutes, moving between buildings and dodging cars, Alaska doing her best to keep an eye out for the person. She managed to keep an eye on him for most of the time, but in the last minute, a speeding cyclist nearly bowled Alaska off her feet. Alaska was ready to fire a few choice insults, but was instead left in stitches when Darwin sent the cyclist flying over the handlebars and threw his bike up onto the roof. By the time Alaska and Paige had stopped rolling on the pavement laughing, attracting many odd looks from the residents, they found the shadowed figure had disappeared from view. The only place he had to have gone in though was the gigantic museum in front.

Alaska had been here only once when she was very young to see an exhibition on ancient ruins with her mother and older siblings, though she couldn't remember much about it. Standing here, images of the museum came rushing back towards her, though it looked different from last time. It was still three storeys high, with an extensive basement storage underneath, and was painted a very solid shade of mahogany with white along the edges and the windows. Alaska was sure the roof had been pointed last time, but now it appeared to be flat, with several statues of Rock type Pokemon against the edges. A large expanse of grass stood in front, with more statues of both people and Pokemon scattered between trees, magnificent flowers and gazebos that were already full of people.

"This is probably going to be the most intelligent building we visit on this journey," Alaska told her Pokemon as she made her way forwards up the cracked grey footpath. A revolving door was already turning around, ready to greet them inside the museum. "Now, you two better behave in here. There's a lot of old crap in here that can't really be disturbed. Oh, and there's some ancient displays around as well," Alaska added with a smile, and Paige and Darwin smirked. Several elderly woman who heard her shot them all wrinkly evil glares, and Alaska simply laughed as she walked up the grand staircase towards the door. A large poster was on either side, showing ancient fossils on a brown background, the large yellow banner reading "FOSSILS OF THE KANTO REGION – Limited Time Only!"

"Looks like we are going to be seeing a few millennium old objects then," Alaska informed her team, and stepped forwards into the revolving door, ready to find out what the mysterious figure wanted, and wheter it had to do with these fossils.