Chapter Twenty Six: Breeding… Sexy

"Oh Alaska… will you slow down!"

"I wouldn't be walking fast if you hadn't made us late!"

"It's not my fault they were playing Nights of the Dead – it's only my favourite vampire soap opera ever!"

Alaska growled and rolled her eyes, and continued to walk determinedly forwards. It was a pleasant day: cloudless sky with the sun shining above them, though it was cool due to a gentle breeze blowing through Route 5. Most people would find it relaxing, but Alaska was quick to get a move on. She wanted to leave Cerulean City now that she had her badge, and wanted to focus entirely on getting her next one: Saffron City and Vermilion City were both near and had gym badges to collect, and Alaska was focused entirely on getting them. She didn't care about the reality show, she didn't care about mysterious blue lightning, or mysterious voices that seemed to know about her. Alaska only cared about continuing with her journey, and the only problem she was going to deal with was Frances' shyness in battle and Darwin's misbehaviour.

"Alaska, come on, slow down!" Sandy groaned from behind, but Alaska continued to stroll determinedly along. They had been late in leaving the Pokemon Center as Sandy had wanted to watch a TV show, and they then had to push their way through a large group of people watching the news in the atrium. Alaska was annoyed at being late and ignored Sandy, moving quickly despite the large metal box holding Bill's weapon bouncing around in her bag.

One reason Alaska had travelled by herself was that she liked doing things her own way. She had never enjoyed following rules, wheter they had been set by her parents, her boss at the PokeMart, her teachers, her older siblings or her next door neighbour, who had once told her that she couldn't have Paige knock his door down just because a tennis ball they were playing with had flown through his upstairs window. Alaska had looked forwards to have a chance to do things by her own rules, like waking up and sleeping when she wanted, travelling down paths she wanted to, visiting places that weren't just on a list of sights from talk show host Vivian Winters. Sandy was great company and it was nice to have someone to talk to that replied in English, but Alaska was finding travelling with another person meant accommodating what they wanted to do, and she was finding her freedom being stifled.

"I am not slowing down until we get to the gatehouse at Saffron, so you should either start running or just wait a few minutes to catch up," Alaska called out, laughing slightly to herself even though she felt a bit bad for leaving Sandy behind. But all thoughts left her head when she looked down and jumped backwards in surprise: right in front of her, in the middle of the road, was a small blue Pokemon that was tiny enough to pick up, with a small horn on its head, big ears and small spikes on its back.

"Well aren't you adorable," Alaska said, quickly recovering from the shock of the Pokemon being here. She thought back to the Pokemon she knew, and remembered seeing a cartoon version of it in a scarring puberty video. "You are a Nidoran, aren't you? The female version, if I'm correct – the male one is pink, which is kind of odd for a masculine Pokemon, but whatever, I've seen weirder… anyway, how did you end up here?" Alaska bent down and smiled at the Nidoran, but was stunned when the Pokemon reared her horn.

"RAN RAN!" She snapped, advancing forwards and pulling a mean face. Alaska was surprised by the Nidoran's aggressiveness, but wasn't frightened as the Pokemon was rather small and her horn didn't look all that threatening. Alaska instead glanced around, wondering where it had come from: she and Sandy had been walking on the right side of a raised section of land that had been reinforced with stones and cement to prevent landslides. She could see the metal railings at the top at a level appropriate to stop people falling over the edge, but not good enough to stop Pokemon tipping over.

"Finally!" Sandy suddenly puffed right next to Alaska, causing her to turn around and see her co-traveller clutching her sides and wheezing as she tried to catch her breath. "Never make my walk so fast again!" Sandy puffed. "Why did you stop any – oh, hello!" Sandy saw the Nidoran on the ground and bent down to smile at it. "What brought you here?"

"NIDO RAN RAN RAN!" Nidoran hissed.

"AAAAAAHHHH!" Sandy screamed, leaping up behind Alaska.

"Really?" Alaska sighed. "Your fine with confronting Misty and get all up in her face, yet a little Nidoran is too much to handle?"

"It hissed at me! Misty didn't hiss," Sandy said defensively, staring down at the Nidoran that was now charging forwards with her head down. Alaska glanced down as Nidoran began attacking her shoe with sharp jabs from her horn, and the trainer sighed as she bent down and picked Nidoran up.

"Let's find a way to take this back up there," Alaska said, holding tightly as the Nidoran fidgeted and squirmed. Sandy rolled her eyes at the prospect of still walking, but Alaska quickly carried on and there was soon a distance of two metres between the friends as they tried to find a way up.

"Why didn't we go up that hill thing in the first place?" Sandy asked.

"Because I have no idea if there is a way up or down from this end, but I guess we'll find out," Alaska said with a smile as she noticed a set of stairs in the distance. She ran the last few metres towards them, still holding tightly as Nidoran tried to free herself from Alaska's arms. But as Alaska began climbing the steps, she saw that it wasn't quite what she was expecting: instead of leaving up to the raised area, the stairs lead to a house directly beneath a sheer cliff where the land above suddenly stopped.

"Odd place for a house," Alaska mumbled, and turned to read a sign that was directly next to her: ROUTE 5 BREEDING CENTER. "Hmm… odd place for any sort of building," Alaska added. She was tempted to turn back, but as Sandy let out a loud groan at the prospect of climbing stairs, Alaska decided it might do them so good to pop in for a few moments.

The door was unlocked, and as Alaska turned the handle she got a waft of heat and a variety of smells. She was struggling to hold onto Nidoran with just one hand and was doubled over as she entered, by a man behind a counter leapt up and rushed towards her.

"So that's where you went!" He said, scooping Nidoran out of Alaska's arms and expertly grasping onto her. "Thank you for bringing Nadia back, though how did you know she belonged here?"

"I didn't," Alaska said as she stood up straight and looked around. The Breeding Center seemed rather basic, with bare black walls surrounding white plastic window frames, though the windows appeared to be black plastic. There was a television attached to the corner of a wall and a table with several chairs around it. The floor was green linoleum, though it appeared to be sun faded and had several holes in it. Alaska wasn't surprised to find things were rather quiet here, though was shocked when a stout elderly woman wandered out from a room behind the counter, carrying two Igglybuff in her arms as she waddled towards an area marked by a white fence.

"What… did I… say… Alas… ka," Sandy wheezed from the front door as she finally made it up, but Alaska only gave her a glance before walking further into the building, the old man taking Nadia the Nidoran with him.

"What is this place?" Alaska asked. "I thought breeding centers were all really fancy and extravagant and rather over the top… not that this isn't nice, it's just not very…," Alaska trailed off as she struggled to find words, but the old man smiled as he put the Nidoran down in the fenced area.

"My wife and I started this business twenty years ago, back when businesses like this were family owned companies with a loyal local community and friendly reputation," the man explained as Sandy collapsed into a chair, too tired to care about why they had ended up here. "However, a few years ago, as you seem to know, a little business called Breederz opened up in Unova. They focused on making Pokemon look beautiful as well as training and exercising them, and they gained a loyal following of mostly woman and gays that built them up. Than they opened more branches and got a reality show, and now there are at least 3 centers in each region and the company makes millions each year: we can't compete with that."

"That does suck," Alaska said, feeling it might have been a bit too blunt but not knowing what else to say. "I'm Alaska, by the way, and this is Sandy. I'm just doing a bit of gym badge travelling and came across Nidoran there and I thought she lived up there."

"I'm Andy and this is Judy," the old man said as he shook Alaska's hand. "So, I'm guessing you found us by accident? That's how they all seem to these days! Just so you know, we are still fully operational, not that it really looks like it, but if you want to leave your Pokemon you can."

"Oh, no thanks… I mean," Alaska stumbled, "I only have three Pokemon on me and I really should be training them: they can be a bit tricky at times." Andy nodded, though he did look a bit hurt. Alaska felt bad, but she really just wanted to continue on her journey and hadn't intended on coming here anyway.

"Who do those Pokemon belong to?" Sandy asked as she fanned herself with her hand.
"These two Igglybuff belong to a little girl away on summer camp, we get a lot of Pokemon for reasons like that," Judy explained as she put the two pink Pokemon down. "Nadia here… well, we don't know what happened to her trainer," the old woman added sadly before hurrying over to begin getting food for the Pokemon.

"She was dropped off last year but we haven't heard anything from the trainer since then," Andy explained with a shake of his head. Alaska still wanted to leave, but Sandy seemed absorbed in the conversation and she reluctantly sat down next to her. "I tried contacting them and everything but didn't get any response. We are meant to only have a six month policy before we release them into the wild, but Judy and I don't have the heart to let them out after that long." Alaska and Sandy glanced over at Nadia, and saw the Nidoran seemed to be threatening the Igglybuff.

"She seems so… lovely," Alaska mumbled, and Andy laughed as his wife brought over glasses of water and a plate of biscuits for them.

"Nadia is just restless," Judy explained with a laugh like Andy's. "I think she wants to get out and battle: a tough little cookie she is, always trying to escape and causing a bit of mayhem." Alaska and Sandy nodded along as they both bit down on a biscuit, but both stopped chewing after a few seconds.

"These are some tough little cookies," Alaska mumbled to Sandy, who stifled a laugh as they quickly spat the cookies into napkins while the elderly couple stared at the Pokemon.

"I do want Nadia's trainer to come back and take her on the journey she deserves, but I can't see that happening any time soon," Judy said sadly. Sandy suddenly gasped dramatically and turned to Alaska, knocking their glasses of water over in the process.

"Ooops, sorry, but Alaska – remember how Misty mocked you for not having enough Pokemon?"

"Vividly."

"Well, why don't you take Nadia?" Alaska was surprised by this, but was more surprised by the water dripping down over the edge of the table. Judy rushed away to get more napkins as Andy glanced towards Nadia, who was beginning to attack the fence, and smiled.

"I think that would be a splendid idea!" He said with a wide smile. "Though, of course, only if you are alright with it Alaska," he added, smiling at her. Alaska glanced over at Nadia, who was still attacking the fence, and pondered: she did feel as if she needed a new Pokemon, and though she would rather catch it herself, Nadia seemed to have a feisty attitude for battling that could come in handy if brought under control.

"What if the trainer returns and wants her back?" Alaska asked. "Wouldn't Nadia be in her PokeBall anyway? I can't access another trainer's PokeBall without their permission."

"Nadia's PokeBall stopped working a few months ago," Judy said as she rushed back with napkins, and she and Sandy began scooping up the water. "I contacted a Pokemon Center and the nurse said that usually means the trainer has deactivated their PC Box. We thought she might come back for Nadia though, but no luck."

"You could have mentioned that before," Alaska said with a smile and moved quickly towards the Nidoran. Nadia stopped and began making snapping noises up at her, but Alaska picked her up and gave her a hug that made her squirm. "I'll be happy to take her with me."

"Ran Ran Nidoran Niiiii!" Nadia said with a squirm, but Alaska simply smiled and pulled a Great Ball out.

"I am going to take you with on my gym battles because you seem like a good fighter, is that alright?" Alaska said, but Nadia's eyes had lit up the mention of battling and she became eagerly still. "I'll take that as a yes then," Alaska laughed, and Nadia nodded and headbutted the Great Ball. The weight disappeared from Alaska's arms as the Nidoran turned to energy and was sucked inside. Everyone watched excitedly, even the Igglybuff, as the Great Ball shook in Alaska's hands. After a few moments, it flashed and clicked.

"YES – I now have four Pokemon!" Alaska cheered, and the others all clapped in celebration. "Watch out Sandy, it looks like we're beating you in the Poke numbers department!"

"Oh Sandy, if you want a Pokemon, we could help with that," Andy said, making Alaska scowl a bit. The old man rushed back behind the counter as Judy continued to mop up the water, and he came back a few moments later with a small yellow egg with brown markings on it. "This was left on our doorstep the other week and we've been trying to get rid of it," Andy explained, "as we don't have the proper facilities to look after an egg. You can have it if you want." Sandy gasped and clapped excitedly, grabbing the egg and pulling Andy into a hug.

"Thank you so much, I have always wanted an egg ever since my old neighbour Tia got one," Sandy said, jittering with excitement as Andy and Judy laughed. Sandy then turned and rushed towards Alaska, who sighed and allowed herself to be pulled into a hug. "Who would have thought it: you get a Primeape and a Nidoran, I get a Bellsprout and now an egg, all in a few days!" Alaska nodded with a large smile, not even faking it as she thought of how her next gym badges were just on the horizon, and she had a new team that was ready to take part in battles.

"I can't believe such happiness could happen on a day like today!" Judy said, almost tearful as she pulled the girls into a hug.

"What's happened today?" Alaska asked. "I hope we haven't intruded on any family moments or anything!" Judy shook her head, looking rather confused, and they saw tat Andy looked the same way as he grabbed a remote from the counter and pointed it at the television.

"Haven't you girls seen the news?" He said, almost in a whisper. Alaska and Sandy shook their heads, thinking back to the crowd that had been in the Pokemon Center that morning, and turned towards the TV.

In a single second, Alaska felt as if the world had crashed down around her.

On the tiny screen above them, they could see the destruction: text scrolling across the bottom said that it was Chrono Island, one of the Sevii Islands, and that a nuclear device had gone off around midnight. A helicopter flying overhead showed barren wastelands of ash: no nature left, charred frames of buildings all that remained. A large crater was shown south of the town of Five Island, and looked to Alaska like a portal to some dark dimension. Reports said that the device had been powerful but was small, only affecting the areas nearby, several islands in the area even being barely affected. But the costs were phenomenal: over five hundred people dead, hundreds more terribly injured and being rushed to dozens of hospitals around Kanto and Johto to deal with the flow of people. Dead Pokemon were washing up on the surrounding islands and residents were being warned not to touch them. Alaska almost collapsed to her knees as she saw an image that tore at her heart: a flock of dead Pidgey, there feathers almost burned off, laying on one of the islands.

"Who could do something like this?" Sandy whispered as she indeed collapsed into a chair, placing the egg down near the wet patch and clutching her chest. Alaska knew who it was though: only one person would have the atrocity to do something like this, only one person would so carelessly take away so many lives and not care at all. Alaska just wanted to scream, and wanted to run out and find Gideon and destroy him for doing this, kill him for all he was done, but worse of all, and one thing that made Alaska hate herself, she hated him for taking her journey from her.

Just quickly: Nadia's capture was planned for this point for a while. I don't want Alaska and Sandy to catch a heap of Pokemon together quickly, as anyone who still watches the anime will see that that never really pays off in the giving-them-personality department, so expect to see things slow down evolution and capture wise. Also, Alaska's semi selfish feelings towards Gideon's act will be explored and expanded on, so don't be too shocked at those last lines