Chapter Twenty Four: My Monkey, My Enemy, My God….
"Shit shit shit, run!" Alaska hissed under her breath, and began flapping Paige's wings desperately to shoo them all away. However, Sandy had walked forwards before Alaska had begun whispering, and didn't know why they were being called back.
"Mitchell's right there Alaska!" She said with a tone that signalled she would have rolled Butterfree's eyes if she could, and Sandy kept moving forwards. However, she froze as soon as she saw Chloe walking briskly forwards, smiling deviously, and Sandy desperately tried to back track so they could all leave, but it was too late.
"Well well well," Chloe cackled as she stared down, wearing the same expression she wore when she had verbally torn into people at their school, "look what the great Alaska Avocado has been reduced to – a meesly little Pidgeotto! HA – where's your fighting spirit now?"
"Pidge Otto Pidgey!" Paige snapped, advancing forwards in Alaska's body but wobbled nervously, simply causing Chloe to laugh loudly. Alaska was proud of Paige for sticking up for Pidgeotto's being insulted, but her bad day was simply getting worse and she didn't want to have to deal with Chloe bloody Carmichael of all people, nor give her the satisfaction of being currently superior.
"Listen Chloe, just piss off," Alaska snapped, trying to sound as angry as possible to make up for currently being feathered, though could see the rest of the crew and Mitchell were coming up behind. "This is just a mistake and I want to get it over with, which means I don't want to deal with you!"
"You don't get to call the shots here!" Chloe snarled though her face remained joyous. "Whose currently the human, eh?" Alaska simply sighed and clutched Paige's head with her wings, wearily looking up. Damian, Lachlan and the camera crew all looked rather shocked, but Amanda was hovering next to them with a look that seemed to say her Christmas had come early, and the words she hissed in the cameraman's ear were clearly 'Get this all on film.'
"I would let you go and deal with this later, but you have been embarrassing me on film for far too long now," Chloe said, a touch of acid creeping into her words now. Alaska had seen this from Chloe before: wearing a smile on her face as she told other girls and boys at the school how they amounted to nothing less than shit on her shoe. Alaska wasn't going to let it get to her, but could still see how Chloe's eyes burned with rage.
"If you don't want to be embarrassed than maybe you should have signed up to a show where you're actually good at what the main task is. I hear that adult channel is starting a new reality show to find the next big porn star – that sounds about right up your alley," Alaska hissed back, and Chloe let out a shriek before kicking out. Her aim meant only dust got in Alaska's eyes, and Paige's body was adapt to ridding things getting in her eyes in mid flight and it was much quicker to blink them out.
"Once again, I'M in the position of power!" Chloe yelled, bending down and glaring directly at Alaska. Her presence was rather intimidating to those that were weak, meaning Sandy was hanging back and not coming to help, while Paige and Butterfree weren't adapt to their current bodies enough to get in a fight. Alaska could see the cameraman was filming things as Amanda beamed deviously and jotted things down on a touch device, nearly blocking Mitchell as he peered at the scene. Alaska was frustrated about how the day was going, and having Chloe shout in her face while everyone else stood back wasn't helping things.
"I am going to battle you now," Chloe continued to growl, "and you are going to fight in a way that suits me this time, alright? I am sick of you defeating me and making me look like a fool, so let's see how you like it!" Alaska was in no mood for a battle, especially as she was currently a Pidgeotto, and wanted to do something to get Chloe off her case and head back to Bill's lab and see if he was done. She wasn't quite sure how to ease things for herself at first, but as Chloe continued to lean over her Alaska got a brilliant idea: it was something that she would never get away with as a human, but as a Pokemon…
"You want to battle me?" Alaska snapped, bending Paige's legs. "How's this for suiting you?" And Alaska sprang up, beak wide open, and before Chloe could react Paige's beak was biting down on her nose.
"AAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Chloe screamed and flung her body upright and shook her body, but Alaska simply chomped down harder and twisted. The sickening crack as Chloe's nose broke was enough to make up for all the annoyance Alaska had gone through today, and she felt pleasure in hearing Paige, Butterfree and Lachlan laughing, as well as the terrified shrieks of Amanda.
"STOP! HER FACE NEEDS TO BE IN PRISTINE CONDITION," the producer yelled. "IT'S ONE OF HER BEST ASSESTS!" Alaska suddenly found the woman's hands grasping around her body, and Chloe stopped spinning and simply cried as Alaska bit down harder on her nose.
"IT HUUUU-HUUU-HUUUURTS!" Chloe whined, and Alaska felt good and jiggled the bone around a bit as Amanda pulled.
"Let go you blasted bitch!" She hissed and squeezed tightly on Paige's midriff. Alaska gasped as she felt her Pokemon's body get squished, making her gasp for air: a Pidgeotto didn't have a tough body like an Onix or Machamp for example, with feathers the only major protection. Amanda continued to squeeze, and the more she did the more Alaska became concerned that her oldest friend could end up with a serious injury to her ribcage. Alaska tried shaking free, but only Paige's wings weren't contained by Amanda's increasingly tight grip, and Alaska would soon be forced to let go of Chloe's nose as she fought for air. She had to fight back against Chloe, but wasn't sure how in Paige's body…
Than it hit her: if Alaska was in Paige's body, did that mean she could control her moves? Alaska had never thought much about what caused Pokemon's moves, but now that she was in this position the thought occurred to her. Did the moves need Paige's brain to control them, or were they more body than mind? Amanda's hands continued to squeeze down on Paige's body, and the cameraman was moving in closer, and Alaska had to act now.
Concentrate on the wings… she thought, and squeezed her eyes in concentration. A sensation rose up on the left side of Paige's body, and Alaska nearly let go of Chloe's nose as she gasped: the power rising up in the wing was almost breathtaking. Alaska could feel the energy in Paige's body, her body, her mind moving towards the wing. It felt orgasmic in a rather strange way, and Alaska savoured the surge as the left wing began to glow silver.
"Alaska Ka Alas," she mumbled mockingly and swung Paige's Silver Wing backwards. Alaska felt like the body was well and truly hers as the wing soared backwards, but gasped as it went for the wrong target: the cameraman had unfortunately gotten too close, possibly urged on by Amanda, but now he couldn't escape in time and could only watch as the wing smashed through the expensive piece of equipment. The Steel Wing was powerful, and the camera stood no chance: it shattered into two large pieces, with one of them being tossed by the force of the wing. Amanda screamed and let go of Paige's body in order to raise her hands, the camera smashing into them. Alaska had a seemingly sick sense of pleasure at the pain being caused, but need to draw air in and opened Paige's beak to breath, allowing Chloe to flee.
"Are you alright?" Damian said, walking forwards and looking concerned. However, Chloe simply screamed and cried, blood streaming down her nose. Alaska thumped to the ground and looked up, beginning to feel bad and wondering if she had gone too far this time. She looked up at Amanda, though the producer was uninjured and simply furious, and than Alaska faced her friends. The Bellsprout seemed rather stunned by things, but Sandy, Butterfree and her own face simply looked normal.
"Did I possibly take things a few notches too high?" Alaska asked sheepishly, but Sandy shook Butterfree's head.
"It may have been a bit gruesome, but Chloe was being horrible to you," she said, "so I think she can live with the pain a bit." Alaska felt more reassured after this and turned back towards the stars: the boom operator was wiping the blood away from Chloe's nose, which seemed to have not been broken after all and Alaska had simply bitten down on the less bony part of her nose. However, Chloe was furious all the same.
"KILL HER, THROW HER IN THE LAKE!" She roared, staring more at Damian and Lachlan as she spoke. "DEFEAT HER FOR ME!" Alaska tutted at the way she was ordering them all around and wanted to give her a piece of her mind. However, Damian and Lachlan were exchanging looks, and Amanda was silently scowling at them, the look on her eyes enough to cause pressure: clearly, one of the boys was expected to come forth and battle Alaska.
"You can defend honour as much as you like, but there ain't no camera to prove it," Alaska snapped. She still didn't fancy a battle, especially now that they would probably fight rather viciously. However, Damian gave Chloe a gentle pat on the back and walked towards them. Paige and Butterfree moved their trainers bodies forwards to defend them, but Damian raised his hands in a sort of surrender before getting down on one knee.
"Alaska, if one of us doesn't battle you, than it will be bad for us and even worse for you," he whispered so no one else could hear, and Alaska noted some genuine fear in his voice. "Let's just have a brief one-on-one battle, and than we can move on Amanda can just accept it." Alaska was stunned to hear him talk about it being bad for him as well, and wondered if Amanda had been threatening them over Alaska. She didn't want Damian or Lachlan to get hurt unnecessarily, as they had always seemed a lot nicer than Chloe, and she gave Paige's head a brief nod.
"Come on Frances, let's battle!" Alaska called as Damian moved backwards to mark out a field. However, as Alaska turned Paige's body to face her, the Paras clambered down Alaska's back, staring out with a terrified look: clearly the battle with Clefairy hadn't improved her confidence as much as Alaska had hoped, and facing off against Damian seemed to have her frightened.
"You aren't going to be able to use Paige, well, yourself, to battle," Sandy pointed out, and Alaska nodded grimly: there was only one choice for this battle, and she wasn't happy about it.
"Paige, would you mind sending Darwin out please?" Alaska asked, and Chloe let out a short laugh before moaning with pain and clutching her nose. Alaska grinned to herself as Paige used Alaska's hands to reach into and grab Darwin's PokeBall. It seemed that, similar to how Alaska had used Paige's moves, Alaska's fingerprints still activated the PokeBall, sending the Mankey out onto the field. Alaska turned around as he began to form, and could see Amanda was smiling once more and whispering to the boom operator. Lachlan stood by Mitchell, who still looked upset, and Alaska realised that if she ignored everyone and let him run off she might not be in this mess, facing Darwin as Damian sent his Charmander onto the field.
Though Alaska hadn't shared these thoughts with Sandy or Paige, she had written in her blog briefly about her concerns about Darwin. She was beginning to notice his impulses and seeming desperation for battling and have a strong fight, and was wondering if at some point Darwin would begin to get too strong for her liking.
"Alright Darwin, let's just make this short and sweet, alright?" Alaska called out. Darwin turned around, staring down at Paige's body looking immensely confused. "I'll explain later," Alaska said irritably, "but just defeat the bloody Charmander so we can go home."
"Key Man Man?" Darwin said, a slight smile crossing his face as he stared down at Alaska: his long springy legs meant he was taller than Paige, and Alaska didn't like where this was going.
"Just turn around and focus!" She snapped and looked towards Damian. He was standing there silently, as was his Charmander, ignoring the shrieks coming from Chloe with suggestions of what to do to Alaska. For once, Alaska was stunned to see that a member of the reality crew actually appeared focused and organised on the battle itself rather than simply on thoughts of victory.
"This battle is an one on one," the cameraman said, his tool now in a large plastic bag and was resorting to using Amanda's hand held device to film. "First Pokemon to faint loses – go!"
"Karate Chop, go!" Alaska shouted.
"Dragon Rage," Damian commanded calmly. Darwin instantly jumped forwards, a hand raised above his head ready to bring it down on Charmander's head. However, the Fire type moved quickly, opening his mouth wide as a ball of purple fire formed.
"CHAR!" He yelled, the ball flying forwards. Darwin was going to get hit directly unless he moved and fell into the lake or hit the raised ground next to them, or somehow stopped the move. Alaska was pleased when the Mankey brought his hand down, ready to cut through the attack and then struike Charmander. However, as Darwin hit the Dragon Rage, everyone on Alaska's side gasped as the ball of fire erupted.
"MAN MAN!" Darwin yelled, the force of the explosion knocking him backwards and caused Alaska to flap Paige's wings and fly a metre away to avoid getting hit.
"Are you alright?" Alaska asked nervously. Darwin was clutching his sides and rubbing his head, sitting in the middle of the dirt and looked grumpy. He leapt back to his feet without replying to Alaska and stared angrily over at Charmander. "I know it must not feel good for a weaker Pokemon to nearly defeat you, but you need to focus on defeating him! Go in for another Karate Chop, alright?"
"Brick Break, aim for his legs," Damian commanded, and everyone watched as Charmander began to run forwards looking fairly determined as he raised his arm up. He had proven to be a bit of a threat and Alaska wanted Darwin to wrap things up quickly, but was stunned to see he hadn't moved.
"Darwin, I gave you an order!" Alaska said sternly, her mind racing as she realised her fears were coming true. Darwin simply shook a hand to tell her to stop talking, and Alaska turned and looked at the others, and saw they were as shocked as she was.
"Ha ha, looks like someone isn't doing a very good job!" Chloe sneered, her jeer muffled by the ice pack covering her nose. Alaska was annoyed that Darwin was making her look bad and ignoring her orders, and wondered why he was when Charmander was coming up so close…
"KEY MAN!" Darwin suddenly shrieked, and he pounced forwards with his arms outstretched. Charmander had already gone down to aim for his legs, and suddenly had the Mankey rising over him. Alaska gasped as Darwin grabbed Charmander's middle with both hands as he began to land on one leg, and than raised him up and spun.
"I said Karate Chop, not Seismic Toss!" Alaska yelled, but Darwin ignored her as he spun Charmander around. Damian, Lachlan, Mitchell and the crew all looked shocked, while Amanda seemed furious at this move. Suddenly, Darwin stopped and let Charmander go: he flung through the air and crashed into the shallow parts of Cerulean Lake, thankfully only skidding through mud and not getting his tail caught in the water.
"What were you thinking?" Alaska cried as everyone else fell silent. "Charmander's can die if their flames go out, do you know that?" Darwin once again wasn't listening, and Alaska could only watch as he suddenly leapt forwards, fist glowing yellow with electricity. The cameraman was too stunned to stop things, and Damian, who had been moving forwards to check on Charmander, froze in his footsteps.
"MAAAAAN!" Darwin yelled and leapt over the mud, moving forwards and driving his ThunderPunch into Charmander.
"MANDER CHAR CHAAAAR!" Charmander yelled as he was blasted back onto dry land by the force of the punch and the electricity affecting the water around him. All eyes followed as Charmander crashed onto the ground with a loud thud, and rolled over before coming to a stop by the cameraman's feet. Silence fell between them, with everyone in Alaska's line of vision staring at Charmander looking purely shocked.
"Charmander is unconscious – Alaska and her Mankey are the winners," the cameraman said, still staring at Charmander, and he slowly lowered the device down to his side. For a single second Alaska was glad to have won, but that victorious feeling disappeared as she looked up at Damian's shocked expression and guilt rose up instead: he had offered to battle to make things easier for her, and in return Darwin had nearly killed his starter. Alaska glanced over at the Mankey to see he looked rather pleased with himself as he squelched through the muddy water.
"Darwin, what the hell –," Alaska began to scold; marching forwards on Paige's talons, but froze in surprise as Darwin began to glow. Everyone turned around as Darwin's arms and legs thickened, his tail shooting back inside his body. His main body seemed to grow as well, and Alaska watched the evolution, unsure wheter to be happy or worried with her misbehaving Pokemon getting stronger.
"PRIIIIIIIMEEEE!" Darwin shouted as the light faded, revealing the Mankey had grown into a Primeape, with shaggier fur, boxing glove like hands and a short stumpy tail sticking out of his back. Alaska put on a happy face as Darwin walked forwards, and was partially excited but secretly concerned: some Pokemon were more difficult to train once they evolved and got stronger, so what if her new Primeape became reluctant to obey her?
"Congratulations!" Alaska said, allowing Darwin to scoop Paige's body up and rush towards the others, his arms outstretched. Alaska and Sandy's faces both looked considerably concerned, clearly still shocked by the battle, but Butterfree's face was full of happiness as Sandy saw the evolution as good news.
"That was a fantastic job!" She said, and Darwin pulled her in and hugged both her and Alaska, nearly squeezing their brains right back out. Alaska relaxed a bit now that Darwin was so happy, and was beginning to feel good when she heard clapping from behind. Darwin turned around to face Amanda strutting forwards, doing the sarcastic slow clap Alaska had seen in so many movies. The producer didn't look angry, more with a bored irritated look as if her peace was being interrupted by something buzzing overhead. Alaska noticed Damian had brought his Charmander back and was looking at her with a strange look that tugged at Alaska was some reason, but she had to focus on Amanda and stared at her determinedly.
"Congratulations indeed: I am so pleased you got an evolution through such shady methods," Amanda purred, coming to a halt. "I do hope you are proud of that battle, and the fact you just attacked one of my stars."
"Excuse me?" Alaska snapped back. "Need I remind you of those Clefairy you killed back at Mt Moon, not that you need it after that little jab with Miss Nose-Job over there back on the bridge. So don't even try and pull some little 'oh, feel bad' guilt trip on me unless you want some real trouble." Amanda raised an eyebrow and took another step forward.
"Miss Acevedo, I think I know a few more ways to deal pain than you do," she said, her tone threatening and not matching her devious looking eyes. Alaska thought back to Damian's comments earlier and decided that Amanda needed a lesson in not intimidating people. An idea quickly formed in her mind, and Alaska used Paige's wings to get free of Darwin's hold.
"You don't scare my Amanda, and I can very easily show how capable I am," she hissed, and jumped into the air with her eyes shutting, forcing Paige's body to spin. She concentrated with all her might as she continued to spin, and Alaska began to feel that same powerful feeling engulfing her once more, but this time covering Paige's entire body and moving all around. There were screams, and Alaska hoped it was from the Twister rising up around her. However, Alaska didn't realise what it was until it hit her…
Something powerful coursed through Alaska's mind, something so strong that her eyes opened and Paige's body stopped spinning, but this thing kept her upright: it was blue electricity that covered her entire body, and Alaska could feel the shock waves coursing through her brain. It was the same pain she had felt only a short time ago, and Alaska was glad to finally be free…
For a few moments Alaska blacked out, though she could still feel the painful electricity surging through, and it felt as if her brain was about to explode. Alaska's mind spun around and around and she temporarily felt airless before spinning once more, though it slowly began to die down. Alaska felt more familiar, and she opened her eyes suddenly to find blue sky high above and the Bellsprout peering over her.
"Bell!" Bellsprout cried as Alaska shot up, but she ignored her as she looked forward and beamed: Darwin was a few metres in front, and as he moved around in shock, Alaska saw Paige lying on the ground.
"YES, IT WORKED!" Alaska yelled and she made to move forwards and hug Paige, but suddenly noticed something clinging to her arm and looked down. "Oh – sorry Frances!" She cried, staring down at the nervous Paras and realised that when their brains switched back, Alaska's body must have fallen and nearly crushed the poor little thing.
"Par Par Para," Frances mumbled shakily, and once Alaska was certain she was alright she rushed towards Paige, who was beginning to get to her talons and rub her head with her wings.
"Pidgey Ot Pidge Otto," Paige grumbled as Alaska scooped her up.
"Hey, my body is perfectly healthy, thank you very much!" Alaska snapped back, but there was a smile on her face and she hugged her friend tightly.
"MAN!" Darwin yelled and piled on top, and Alaska began to laugh as Sandy rushed forwards with a high pitched squeal, already hugging an unimpressed looking Butterfree and joined in. Alaska had no idea how the electricity had managed to reach them from this far away from the lab, but she didn't want to look back, simply keep moving forwards and focus on the path ahead. Being in her Pokemon's body had been a very interesting experience, and Alaska was actually glad for it: she had seen things from a different angle, even if for only a short time, and having this meeting with the reality stars simply highlighted the fact they were a major blockage in her quest, and though they had inspired it she needed to ignore them.
"I don't see why you bothered switching back," a voice snapped from outside the giant group hug, and Alaska looked up as Chloe walked forwards, Amanda still standing behind looking a bit shell shocked. "Frankly Avacado, you looked better as a bird!" Alaska simply rolled her eyes and pushed out from the hug. She wanted to tie up these loose ends and push the stars aside for the time being, and decided it was best to leave them with something to remember her by.
"You know what Chloe," Alaska said, standing a few feet in front. "Fuck you," she spat out, and Chloe looked rather stunned. "Fuck you, fuck your producer, and fuck your entire fucking show. I really don't give a crap about you people anymore, and even though I should battle you more often as it seems to do wonders to my Pokemon's confidence to defeat such pathetically trained opponents, I have bigger things to deal with then some future $5 stripper and a middle aged hag who probably hasn't seen anything below a man's neck that wasn't on TV." In the background Damian looked stunned, but Lachlan, Mitchell and the crew were trying hard not to laugh, and Alaska felt fairly satisfied as she smiled widely at Chloe's opened jawed expression.
"You bitch!" The blonde hissed, and she raised a fist up above her head. However, Alaska had been expecting something and lashed out: her own fist struck Chloe's already injured nose and the reality star toppled backwards. Her arms flailed as she tried to balance herself and they clasped around Amanda's neck. The producer and her star collectively screamed as Chloe dragged them down towards the lake. Sandy gasped whilst Paige cheered as the two splattered down into the mud, Chloe even skidding down towards the water. Alaska wanted to whoop and cheer and flipped the Pidgey at them and kick more mud in their faces, but she decided to take a more dignified approach and turned smiling back towards the others, seeing the Bellsprout had come alongside Sandy and looked shocked as well, but the others were all laughing and cheering at their demise.
"Come on you lot," Alaska said, her glee creeping out into her face and voice, "I feel like a proper battle – anyone up to fighting Misty?"
Hopefully you found that more eventful than the last part! This is the last we will see of the reality stars for the time being until well after Vermillion City
