Ah, it feels good to be back writing Eight Easy Steps! I have not yet checked how long it has been since the last instalment, but it has certainly been nearly two months! I apologise for the delay, Galactic was held up by school work so it took longer than necessary to finish, but now everything is getting back on track. And we can celebrate the return of 8ES with FIVE chapters in a row, no interruptions! I hope you enjoy the return of our favourite characters, and look forward to things getting exciting!


Chapter Thirty Nine: The Hungover Games

"I think my head is going to explode…"

"Lucky you, I think my entire body is close to collapsing in upon itself, like a fat person that's starting to deflate."

"I would tell you off for that, but I think I might throw up if I say anything."

"Why don't you smash me over the head with a glass, seemed to work –"

"OOOOOONNNNN!"

The roar shook the entire cave, and Alaska and Sandy stopped talking, covering their ears from the booming cry. They watched timidly as Onix swung his long tail around, hoping to send Darwin flying, but the Primeape grasped onto it as it came around and dug his feet into the ground, trying to hold him off.

It was midday… well, at least that's what Alaska guessed. She and Sandy had passed into the Rock Tunnel a few hours ago, and with no light getting in, she could only estimate the time was based on how bored and tired she was. Alaska had woken up with her entire body in pain from her fight with Chloe, despite the medicine she had taken the night before, and she would have liked to have stayed at the Pokemon Center for a little while longer, but it was a wonder that Amanda hadn't slit their throats overnight, and it was best to escape before another confrontation arose. Sandy had decided going to Lavender Town soon would be best, as then they could rest there for a few days out of the way of any reality star that might come after them.

The Rock Tunnel was the same generic cave that Alaska had come to expect from her travels. Wide expanses of dull grey surrounded the duo as they walked in pain, with jagged rocks hanging from the ceiling and sticking out of the ground like teeth, waiting to chew and swallow them up. The only major difference was that the Rock Maze would be a more appropriate title: there seemed to be multiple levels of to the mountain, with some areas only accessible through mouldy ladders or cliffs too steep to climb up normally, to sections blocked by boulders or landslides, and other areas that seemed to stretch on forever. It was impossible for Alaska to get down a ladder with her leg, so they were forced to move down steady slopes or use Onix if necessary to get around. But with no map and no signs telling them the way to Lavender, they were forced to walk around blindly in the semi darkness that the cave was permanently cloaked in, trying to find a way out.

They had decided to stop for a breaking to rest their aching bodies and heads, and sent their Pokemon out to have a try at battling. Paige and Butterfree were fluttering over Darwin and Onix as they battled, and Nadia was showing off her strength to Frances and Bellsprout, neither of whom was willing to battle her.

"At least they seem to be enjoying themselves," Sandy said drearily, rubbing her head for the umpteenth time. Depressed, Hungover Sandy was not as fun as the usual Overly Peepy and Friendly Sandy Alaska was use to, and could only nod along to her friend's slow pace. Sandy had spent half the night throwing up and had been silent with guilt for the other half, though neither of them knew how she had gotten drunk. Alaska had been running over the ingredients in her head, and unless the bar used vodka-infused Cheri Berries in their beverages, she could only guess that someone had spiked it. The only question was who, though Alaska had a few ideas floating around in her head.

"NIDO RAN RAN!" Nadia cried, her voice breaking through Alaska's thoughts, and the trainer watched as her Nidoran ran towards Frances and Bellsprout. The two cried out as the Skull Bash crashed into them, sending the two small Pokemon rolling across the ground.

"Nadia, that isn't the way to treat your team mates and allies!" Alaska scolded, shaking her stick angrily, though it made her feel like an angry old man. "Go and apologise to them!" Nadia looked disgruntled, but she nodded and moved towards the two. Alaska sighed and she sunk back onto the slightly flat rock they were sitting on, and pulled a chocolate muffin she had taken from the Pokemon Center out of her bag. "I should probably start preparing this lot for the next gym battle. I think the closest is Saffron City, right?"

"Right," Sandy said with a nod that made her clutch her head again, "but I really think you should start working on their personalities before you teach them any more moves." Alaska froze, a large chunk of muffin wedged in her mouth, and turned towards her friend. This wasn't the sort of thing she would expect Sandy to say, and wondered what had brought it on.

"Pardon?" Alaska asked politely after swallowing the barely chewed muffin. "What do you mean 'work on their personalities'? Are you saying there is something wrong with my Pokemon or the way I train?"

"No no, nothing like that," Sandy said, sounding exhausted as she spoke, "I just mean… well, look at them! Paige is fine because she's been with you the longest and will follow you to the ends of the earth. But Darwin has some serious anger management problem and seems to take pleasure in disobeying you, Frances is sweet and strong but is afraid of her own shadow, and Nadia seems eager to fight. It's nothing to do with you, it's to do with how they are naturally born. I just think you should work on turning them all into cogs that can work in the same machine, not individual bits that need extra maintenance just to get going.

"Take Nadia for example," Sandy said, pointing at the Nidoran. "She just attacked one of her team mates, but that is probably because she's been in a center for so long she's had no one to play with. She listens to you probably because she is loyal to you for rescuing her, but Nadia still needs to be taught not to be mischievous." Sandy sighed at this point and leaned back against the rock, sipping at a bottle of water as she tended to her hangover. Alaska continued to stare at her in shock, not quite sure she had heard those exact words come out of Sandy's mouth: it seemed her hangover and mood change had given her a spot more intelligence and insight than normal, or maybe this was how she acted whenever she wasn't happy… Alaska wasn't sure, but the words swam around her head as she turned back towards her team. Darwin seemed to be getting quite irritable with the giant Onix as his attacks struggled to hit, and Onix let out low grunts as the Primeape hit with more power than before.

but I think your just using them to cover up that you have no idea what your doing, only winning badges on flukes and simply causing some explosion or nearly killing your opponent whenever you come close to losing! Alaska hadn't thought much about what Chloe had said at the time, but now the words were coming back to her. Was she really prepared to take on more gyms when her Pokemon could not sort out their issues?

"Alright!" Alaska shouted to the Pokemon, and suddenly they all fell silent. Paige and Butterfree fluttered down from the cave roof, while Nadia sat down obediently before Alaska. Frances and Bellsprout nervously made their way over as well, and Onix only had to slightly incline to be involved, though Darwin continued trying to Karate Chop his larger boulders. "DARWIN, YOU TOO!"

"Ape Prime Prime Ape Ape…," Darwin muttered darkly under his breath, and then leapt forwards and landed with a thud next to them all, only startling Frances and Bellsprout more.

"I think that this training session needs a bit more purpose!" Alaska said, smiling down at them all despite wanting to scream from the pain in her body. "So, I want you all to switch things up and focus on developing your moves! Battle someone different, see how it turns out!" The Pokemon looked around at each other, the confusion evident on their faces, and Alaska knew they need something to entice them. "Whichever team does the best will get… half of this muffin, and extra Pokemon food!" She smiled at them, and they smiled back, suddenly enticed.

Alaska relaxed as the battles unfolded before her and Sandy: all the Pokemon began to work well together, using all their moves in a way that tested their skills and put each other on the spot. Paige seemed stunned that Bellsprout was able to hold her off, using Vine Whip to great effect, while Butterfree was having better success with her Special attacks against Frances, but the Paras was quick to fire Bullet Seed and Stun Spore to try and keep her away. Onix was alone, but seemed to enjoy using his attacks to destroy all the rocks in the nearby area, leaving Nadia to face off with Darwin. Alaska had been nervous about this at first, but the two seemed a good match up: Nadia had speed that stopped Darwin laying a single attack on her, yet her attacks weren't strong enough to harm the Primeape just yet. It was a lesson in balancing moves and testing skills, and Alaska was satisfied that it was going well.

"Smart idea," Sandy said alongside, passing over an apple, more food taken from the Pokemon Center. "I think my team needs some training as well, not that we really need it: I am not planning on facing any gym leaders any time soon."

"Why catch more than one Pokemon?" Alaska asked, the question coming out before it had been properly thought over. Alaska paused after the words came out, not sure how to continue, but Sandy was giving her a look and she thought it best to continue. "I just mean… if you aren't battling any gyms, and you are just enjoying yourself like you said, why did you need to catch Onix and Bellsprout?" She knew as she spoke that the words would seem hurtful, and a look crossed Sandy's eyes that proved her right: the blonde stared sadly down at the rock before them, something starting to settle into her eyes that didn't look right…

"Sandy, I –," Alaska began, ready to apologize for being so stupid, but she before she could finish her sentence, a bang echoed throughout the cave. Silence fell as everyone tensed, and then a stalactite exploded several metres away. Sandy, Frances and Bellsprout jumped, and a second bang sounded.

"GET DOWN!" Alaska yelled, and she pushed Sandy forwards as a boulder next to them shattered. The Pokemon began to cry out as they fell to the floor, two more gunshots causing more rocks to break, sending chips of stone hurtling around them. Alaska's back spasmed from landing on the floor, but she had to look up and try and see who was firing at them so they knew how to stop it.

"This is ridiculous!" Alaska hissed. "We're barely five paragraphs into the day and already someone is trying to kill us!"

"Paragraphs?" Sandy asked.

"I meant minutes!" Alaska growled, though she was too annoyed to care what she said: it seemed that her life was on constant replay, every day someone setting out to murder her. She didn't seem to have any control in her life anymore or on what happened, and Alaska was certain that there was someone else out there, sending all these people to murder her just for their entertainment.

"Onix, use Rock Tomb to try and protect us!" Sandy screamed.

"OOONNNNNN!" The Rock Snake roared. He swung his tail around, smashing it into the ground and into boulders nearby, and tossed them all up into the air. They arced over his head as gracefully as if made of paper rather than stone, and than landed, piled high like a pyramid, before them with enough force to send dust trickling from the roof. The gunshots sounded again, but now the Rock Tomb was holding them off, giving them a chance to breathe.

"We need to find an exit and get the hell out of this place!" Alaska shouted, pushing her cane to the ground and trying to get back to her feet. "Paige, Butterfree, you two should fly low and try and find something, and then come back to us as quickly as possible! We'll try and hold this guy off!" A chorus of 'Pidge' and 'Freee' came as a response, and the two friends began to flutter their wings and get ready to move. Alaska turned to watch them leave, hoping that any exit was nearby, but gasped as she saw something coming towards them: a flashlight, moving around rapidly as if the holder was searching for something in particular.

"There's someone else coming!" Alaska whispered to the others, and Sandy let out a nervous whimper. "Darwin, get over their and use Karate Chop!" Darwin nodded, the Primeape eager for some action, and he hopped forwards, fists out and ready to attack. He was just passing Alaska when the gunshots began to sound again, and she looked around nervously to see where they were going. However, a second set of gunshots were being fired, but none of them were coming their way.

"That person is trying to help us!" Sandy gasped intensely in Alaska's ear, pointing at the person with the flashlight: the light was showing the person was firing clearly towards the other shooter, though Alaska wasn't sure if they were both missing or someone was coming to their rescue.

"You lot, get moving!" The person with the flashlight yelled, his voice clearly masculine. There were two flashes of red on either side, illuminating the speaker as being cloaked, his face cast in shadow, and then his Pokemon rose up. Alaska gasped in shock as a Charizard formed only a few metres away, the fire on his tail casting shadows across the dimly lit cave, wings that were wide but torn sending dust and stones hurtling up into the air. The Flame Pokemon roared, and a jet of flame was fired over their heads and towards the shooter.

"Vaporeon Vap Vap Poreee!" Alaska had been so distracted by the sudden appearance of a Charizard that she didn't notice another Pokemon approach them, though she instantly recognized the shimmering blue Pokemon to be Vaporeon, one of Eevee's evolutions. "Vaporeeee, Vap Vapor!" She said, beckoning them forwards with her finned tail, and though Alaska was deeply confused by the past few minutes, she knew getting a move on would be the best idea.

"Come on everyone!" Alaska yelled, and she led them forwards, hobbling after Vaporeon. Paige, Butterfree and Darwin were around her, and she could hear Sandy sticking with the others behind. The Vaporeon skirted behind a large, flat area of land that seemed to have simply risen out of the ground, and the group followed. There was a larger circle of light ahead, and Alaska gasped as she realized it was the exact, right behind them this entire time. She felt stupid, but had more important things to worry about as another Flamethrower lit up the cave.

"Good job Vaporeon, now you need to get them out of here! Charizard and I will join you all in a minute!" Alaska looked towards the speaker, the voice seeming to emit from the shadows, but she realized it was their mysterious saviour, his flashlight now off and his body hidden by the dark clothes he was wearing. Sandy still hadn't joined them, and Alaska wanted to make sure they were alright, but the identity of the person before them was bothering her.

"Excuse me, but who are you exactly?" Alaska hissed as the man made to move. "I don't just blindly follow after people, especially not people with guns and a Charizard that looks like it just battled against some weird Glass Pokemon! Give me one good reason why I should follow after you!" The person turned back towards her, and Alaska could see his eyes staring out at her through the darkness. For some reason, she was expecting him to say some snappy one liner or simply give her a look that showed what he meant, but was stunned when he pulled his gun out and pointed it towards her, leaning closely so she could see his slick smile and black hair hanging messily over his eyes.

"You're going to go after Vaporeon here because my name is Trevor Archer, and I can't save your life or save the world unless you leave right now, and I am prepared to do anything it takes to make that happen," he purred, at the exact moment as a very manly scream echoed around the cave, and Alaska decided in that moment that maybe following Vaporeon wasn't such a bad idea after all.


I hope you all enjoyed the little jab I wrote in against myself there :P The series is starting to tie in to the wider GalacticVerse now, and if you haven't read The Moral Highground, then feel free to check out Trevor's earlier adventures and see just how he got here ;)