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.

I am not sure if this chapter turned out good or not... I wanted the ending to leave major tension between Alaska and the reality show, so I think that happened, but I also feel that it might have been rushed... I plan to explain things a bit better in the next chapter, and than the blog/interlude combo, so if you feel something went unaddressed or to quickly, please mention it and I will make sure I clarify that.