Last three chapters of the year starting with this one! The third will end with an interesting sort of cliffhanger to rival any soap opera ending :P

Chapter Twenty: Playing the Training Game

"ThunderPunch, go!"

"Psybeam, now!"

Darwin leapt forwards, his right fist glowing yellow with electricity. His legs and tails were once again acting like springs, helping me to leap across the grassy field at a brilliant speed. Alaska watched intently, hoping the training she done with this for several hours in nearby trees would finally pay off.

"FREEEE!" Butterfree cried, and rainbow circles were fired from her glowing eyes. The Psybeam came towards Darwin, but he did a spectacular jump and spun around in mid air, the attack soaring beneath him.

"MAN MAN!" He cried, and fell towards Butterfree. She tried to move, but Darwin's fist hit her in her abdomen and the two came crashing down. Darwin landed on the tail but drove Butterfree to the ground, electricity charging through her.

"I think that will be enough for now," Alaska said. Darwin looked over at her reluctantly, but he raised his fist and backed off, leaving Butterfree sparking on the ground. Sandy made a worried noise and rushed forwards, pulling several berries and Potion bottles from her bag and instantly getting to work. Darwin looked at Alaska, who smiled and gave an approving bow, which the Mankey willing responded to.

It had been two days since the exploding Golem and Gideon's escape, but Alaska was forcing herself not to dwell on things. What happens at the mount, stays at the mount was her summary of the matter, and she and Sandy proceeded onto Route 4. To ease things for them, Alaska splurged on some of the money she had won from Brock to get help from two Move Tutors they saw training nearby. With some assistance from them, Paige added Aerial Ace to her arsenal, Darwin learnt ThunderPunch and Assurance and Butterfree gained Signal Beam and Psybeam. They were now spending most of their time training their Pokemon up, Gideon's Electrode and the overwhelming Clefairy a bit of a wake up call towards challenges they could face.

Alaska also wanted to get ready for her gym battle with Misty at the Cerulean Gym. Though they were currently on Route 4, where huge mountain peaks contrasted oddly with the many rows of trees and expansive fields of grass moving down the uneven slopes, Cerulean City was only a short way away, and Alaska wanted to be more prepared this time: if Misty tried to send her backing, someone was going to end up in the water, and it wouldn't be Alaska.

"Darwin definitely packs a punch," Sandy said as she picked Butterfree up, who was gaining back strength.

"I'd certainly hope so: we have spent ages training, haven't we?" Alaska replied, and smiled down at Darwin, who was simply chopping and punching the air and flexing his muscles, ignoring her. Alaska rolled her eyes and looked to the sky, where Paige was circling above them. "You can come down now!"

"Pidgey Pidge," Paige called and quickly soared down and landed smoothly onto the grass. Frances was on her back, one claw tightly holding onto Paige's feathers and the other covering her eyes, shaking slightly at the short trip into the skies.

"Was that not fun?" Alaska asked, and Frances shook her entire body fearfully before leaping onto Alaska's shoulders and burrowing her face into her shoulders. Alaska sighed and gave her a soothing pat. "I was hoping you would be able to take part in Cerulean, but if you're still too nervous, Paige and Darwin will handle it." Paige and Darwin both nodded, and Alaska smiled down at them before staring back at her shaky Paras. She had shown great power when she struck Electrode, and Alaska just hoped they would be able to work through it and build her strength up.

"Do you want to do any more training?" Sandy said as she continued to feed Butterfree berries. "Onix could really do with some –,"

"NO!" Alaska blurted, joined by a loud 'PIDGE' from Paige, and Sandy looked rather shocked. "I mean… I think we've got our moves sorted… Besides, I don't want to tire any of them out before the gym match."

"Oh, alright," Sandy said brightly. She let go of Butterfree, who quickly fluttered up into the sky, fully healed and looking bright. "If you're ready, should we head into the city then?" Alaska hadn't expected to be heading off so soon, but now that Sandy had said it, she could see there was not much pointing lingering around with nothing to do: her Pokemon were ready for it, and she knew that they could do a good job.

"I think that sounds like a swimmingly good idea," Alaska said, and she began walking, but Sandy had suddenly begun to laugh. She was giggling hysterically, and Alaska stared down at Paige, who looked just as confused as she did. "What's so funny?"

"You said… swimming… ly! And it's… a Water gym!" Sandy said, clutching her sides and looking as if she was about to roll onto the grass laughing. Alaska simply smiled and forced a laugh out, not wanting to upset her, but continued walking when Sandy continued to laugh for another two minutes. However, Sandy soon caught up, and she walked alongside Alaska with Frances still on her shoulder, while Darwin swung through the trees and Paige and Butterfree flew overhead. The day was gorgeous, and a gentle, soothing breeze blew through the route. Alaska enjoyed being in this very green route after their time spent underground, and savoured staring at the picturesque trees and then the glistening blue river that led towards Cerulean.

"Oooh, look, look!" Sandy blurted out after ten minutes of silence, and Alaska stared towards where she was pointing. An almost perfect semi-circular gap was in the mountain on the opposite side of the river, which was beginning to grow as it led towards the Cerulean Lake.

"Is there something special about that hole?" Alaska asked, not seeing why Sandy was getting so excited about things. The blonde haired girl sighed and gave Alaska a rather judging look.

"It's the Cerulean Cave," she explained in an exasperated voice. "Many powerful Pokemon live there that you won't find anywhere else, and it is said that the further you go into the cave, you will feel a powerful force getting stronger and stronger, as if it is trying to push you back." Alaska stared towards the dark hole, wondering what secrets were hidden within and what this powerful force was.

No doubt it's some fossilized, Clefairy fuelled robot Alaska thought bitterly, and turned away from it, keeping to her decision to focus only on her journey and try to ignore anything else that came her way. Sandy, however, kept turning back to stare at it, even when the grass thinned away into bare ground, and the towering trees were replaced with small houses.

"Is that why you're travelling?" Alaska asked once Sandy had turned back around for the umpteenth time. "Just taking in the sights, enjoying the view, that sort of thing?" Sandy seemed surprised by the question, but Alaska was generally interested: if Sandy wasn't doing gym battles or anything like that, there had to be a reason why she had embarked on this journey in the first place.

"I've just always wanted to travel," Sandy replied quickly, wearing a smile on her face that didn't match the expression in her eyes. "Butterfree and I just decided we would go travelling a few months ago. We haven't really gotten that far though, but now that we're travelling with you, hopefully we'll see something some more sights!" Alaska smiled and nodded, but she could tell by Sandy's expression and her voice she was lying: her eyes looked nervous at the question Alaska had asked, and her voice was quivering slightly, going high pitched. The group continued to walk in silence, but Alaska couldn't help but wonder what Sandy was keeping from her, and why she felt the need to hide it from her.


Cerulean City was a much grander city than Pewter. It was much bigger for one thing, though it didn't had the air of being a coastal, holiday town to escape to. There were many more houses, but most of them were one storey and painted bright, calming colours. The roads were long and wide, and the businesses seemed to blend in to one another, including a bicycle shop that only stood out due to a large bike on its roof.

The main attraction, though, was the Cerulean Lake. It was about the same size of the city, though was a sparkling blue that lit up the area surrounding. Mt Moon to the left looked stunning, and the trees and surrounding grass made for a picture perfect scene. A dazzling golden bridge stretched from one side of the lake to the other, ruining the entire blue look but it still dazzled brilliantly.

Alaska thought the city was magnificent: it was much calmer than Viridian or Pewter, and it almost seemed happier. She and Sandy went and got their Pokemon topped up at the Pokemon Center, and everyone they dealt with was very friendly and kind to them. Alaska remembered how it had been crowded in Pewter, and she definitely preferred travelling through here, and everyone was very helpful in guiding them towards the Cerulean Gym, located next to the lake. Alaska and Sandy went straight there after their Pokemon had healed, and Sandy seemed more excited about going to the gym that Alaska was: she was just focused on getting this battle crossed off and moving on, getting closer to her goals and winning.

The Cerulean Gym instantly gave off the impression of being a water type gym. Not only was it situated in front of the lake, but the building was made entirely out of blue reflective glass that only gave distorted images of the world inside, much like viewing something underwater. It was quite a pretty gym, stretching out in front of Alaska and confirming thoughts that a pool would be located within.

"This building is sooooo cool!" Sandy said, shaking with excitement. Alaska did have to admit it was quite impressive, and wondered if this eloquent piece of urban design was revealing more of Misty to her: flash, stylish, very impressive, and possibly going to give Alaska a run for her money.

"Well, let's just get in and scope the place out," Alaska said, walking forwards. "There is bound to be some sort of challenge within, based on what Brock set me back in Pewter."

"Can you swim, maybe it'll have something to do with that?" Sandy said excitedly, and Alaska turned to reply, wondering if it was try. However, she wasn't focusing on the doors, and it wasn't until too late that she realised they weren't parting for her and walked straight into them.

"DAMNIT!" Alaska growled, stumbling backwards into Sandy and nearly falling to the ground. She felt her left cheek stinging with pain, and, remembering her trip through the sand, wondered if all gym leaders were trying to harm her. While Sandy gasped dramatically, someone suddenly began to laugh. Alaska looked around, wondering if her thoughts that someone following her were coming true, but than the voice spoke.

"One should always watch where they are going," a familiar voice said, and Alaska instantly recognised it as at the disembodied robotic voice that had spoken at Pewter Gym. Sandy shrieked at the sound, but Alaska simply looked at the glass, wondering where the voice was coming from.

"Do you talk to all the trainers or do you just annoy me?" She asked, the voice laughed again, making Alaska scowl. "When didn't the doors part for me?"

"Maybe there's another way in. Why don't you try diving into the lake and see if you shoot out through the water in the pool?" Alaska scowled again as the voice continued to laugh at her, and she was tempted to send Darwin out and have him break the doors down.

"Unless you want me to break in and reprogram you, let me!" Alaska growled.

"Oh honey, you may be nifty from a blog, but that doesn't make you a tech whiz," the voice said dryly, and Alaska was taken aback by this comment: how did this computer voice know about her blog? "I see I've startled you, how fun! You dwell on things for a while and let's see if Misty returns from her date with that swimsuit model."

"Is that why the gym is closed?" Sandy asked, not as interested in the blog comment as Alaska was. "That's a bit selfish of her! She is meant to be a gym leader, not carting off around town on dates like some cheap scarlet woman!" Alaska was confused by the mention of her blog, but hearing Sandy say 'scarlet woman' caused her to burst out laughing. "Where is she?"

"The scarlet woman is currently at Cerulean Cape at the end of Route 25," the voice said, "though I wouldn't disturb her if I was you."

"Well you're not me, are you?" Sandy huffed, as she grabbed the still laughing Alaska and marched her away. They had walked past the gym and were heading towards the open space of grass and dirt that led to the lake and its golden bridge before Alaska managed to stop herself from laughing.

"You heard what the robot computer thing said," she told the fuming Sandy, "and I don't really want the leader of my next gym challenge to be pissy with me."

"Well, this Misty woman should not be so darn selfish than, should she?" Sandy grumbled. "I don't like people that keep others waiting for their own selfish needs! She is a gym leader and should be ready to gym lead at any time!" Alaska could see Sandy's point, and now that she was over her hysterics and pushed her questions about the blog and the voice behind her, she did want to get a bit lippy with Misty, and marched forwards alongside Sandy, ready to find Misty.

However, it seemed they were going to be held up.

As the two girls stepped foot onto the golden bridge, which had a small plaque alongside saying 'The Nugget Bridge – Reopened 2008', they instantly froze. Sandy looked nervously across at Alaska, who was clutching onto the golden sides next to her, either as support or trying to tear it off and use it as a weapon for the hideous sight in front of them.

The reality stars were once again in front of them

Don't worry: the next chapter will stray away from the usual reality star bit, so hopefully no one will groan that they are back again