Interlude Nine: The Murderers and their Victims

"Yes…yes, yes, I understand… I am sure your men did the best they could… of course I am aware of the consequences, you bloody imbecile! If you are going to keep sharing your pointless thoughts with me, you can piss off and bother me when something that is actually important comes up! Now go and do what I am actually paying you to do!"

Amanda angrily turned off the call and clutched at her head, feeling the irritating throb she always seemed to get whenever she was angry or annoyed. She threw her phone onto her inflatable mattress and fell down after it, unable to stop herself from groaning.

For years Amanda had been planning this event: she had grovelled and fought and manipulated her way into Silph TV, and been working hard with Buzz to fine tune this reality show so it would all play into their favour. Amanda had always loved order and neatness, and she had been proud of herself for executing everything so there was no chance it would backfire.

But she hadn't factored in Alaska Acevedo.

It seemed quite unfair and unjust that after all this time, someone would try and stop them right when their plan began. It was as if Arceus had been leading them through a maze, only to turn around at one point and say "Sorry but there's not exit." Amanda had no idea why the girl was even causing this much damage to their cause. Maybe it would all be different if they had chosen different people… no, not that: this show needed ratings to survive and to make their final act a hit, and for that it needed the perfect team. Chloe, Damian and Lachlan were perfect for a reality competition, and Chloe was the perfect one, even though Alaska going after them all came down to her…

Whatever the reason, Alaska kept crossing paths with them, and Amanda knew she had to be stopped. If she kept making a mockery of their show and kept destroying their tasks at every point their paths met, the entire plan would backfire. There seemed no way Alaska would willing leave them all alone, and this left destroying her as the only option.

Buzz is not going to be happy… not happy indeed, Amanda thought irritably and grabbed her phone. Buzz would want to know if the people they had sent to follow the girl through the Rock Tunnel had worked. How would he react when he learnt they had escaped once again? Buzz was taking the girl's involvement as a personal insult, and Amanda could only wonder if it was opening old wounds about Sevii…

Leave it! Don't even think about it… he'll know somehow, he always seems to know… Amanda warned herself, and she sighed once again and threw her phone out of sight. There was a definite connection between her and Buzz, there always had been… yet whenever he got angry… there were times Amanda questioned their relationship, and it was always based on his actions… which were usually her fault though, at least most of the time…

"What is that racket?" Amanda growled, looking for some sort of distraction, and she leapt to her feet. Her tent was quite spacious, with enough room for her double mattress, a personal mini fridge, cheap fold-out desk and a few other necessities, and there was enough room for her to easily stand up straight. She quickly adjusted her clothes, a crisp white shirt and tight black dress, and checked herself over in the mirror: she didn't want the stars to know she had been crying. Feeling composed and ordered, Amanda Anderson stepped outside. She instantly saw a battle was unfolding before her: Damian and Lachlan were training, the former using Charmeleon and Kadabra against the latter's Wartortle and Growlithe. Several of their cameras were capturing the battle, watching as Kadabra struck Wartortle down with a ThunderPunch while Charmeleon and Growlithe exchanging burning streams of fire. It was evident their skills were improving, which was a welcome sight, and Amanda hoped they would be ready for the gruelling exercises she had planned for them. She then noticed Chloe was leaning against her tent, looking fairly bored with the proceedings, a bottle of nail polish in one hand and a phone in the other.

You precious little bitch, Amanda thought viciously, glaring across at the blonde and feeling her muscles tense. We wouldn't be in this mess if you could just ignore Alaska and let her go on her way! I thought you could have embarrassed her and helped destroy her, but you are simply stubborn and weak and are endangering this project! She then thought back to her plans for the next few days and smiled to herself, glancing back to the battle before her as Charmeleon hit Wartortle with a Dragon Rage. Our robots have failed, and so have our men… it seems the only warriors I have left are my children… and if I can't destroy her, I know who will...


"How could you be so idiotic? Do you know what would have happened if either of them had died?"

"Of course I know Red, I know better than any of you!" Red let out a growl that came from deep within his throat, and angrily he kicked a piece of rubble across the cracked and broken floor of the House of Memories. The place was scheduled to be tidied up over the next few days and have repairs straight once it was all clear, but Red had requested the chance to look over the damage before it happened. Even though he was ready to murder someone, Red couldn't help but feel sorry for all the damage that had happened here: it would take a long time to get all the Pokemon graves repaired and properly sorted, and Red did not feel sorry for whoever had to do that. It stirred up memories of Blue, and Red sighed, struggling to control his thoughts.

"I acted in the way I thought it was sensible to act," Charlotte said irritably behind him, and Red sighed again, composing himself before turning around to talk to her. Saying he and Charlotte didn't get along was the understatement of the century, and their relationship was always pushed to its limits at times like this. When Red had read Alaska's blog earlier that day and learnt what role the ghost had to play in yesterday's events, he wished she had a proper solid neck so he could strangle the life out of her again.

"How was it sensible to send Alaska and Sandy into a dangerous battle with Gideon?" Red hissed, glaring angrily at the ghost from across the crater in the middle of the graveyard. "There was guns involved Charlotte! You may be able to let them phase through you, but for us people with bodies it pretty fucking hurts to get shot!"

"It pretty fucking hurts to get you body blown to bits as well, but you never hear me complaining!" Charlotte snapped.

"YOU ALWAYS COMPLAIN ABOUT IT!" Red roared, and furiously he grabbed a rock from the ground and through it at her. It went straight through, of course, but Charlotte looked stunned all the same. And then a smile crept onto her face, one that was condescending and mischievous rather than happy and joking, and Red wondered if it had been a mistake.

"Look at you Red!" The ghost said with a smirk. "It's only taken five years but you've finally grown a pair. Leaf must be happy: you can actually pleasure her now!" Red glared at her and Charlotte simply laughed, and then floated forwards so she suddenly appeared right next to the Champion. "I feel dreadful about what happened to Alexandra, but I was there to save her, wasn't I? Besides, I needed them to fight in my place."

"Why? What can they do that a magical ghost can't?" Red asked and turned angrily towards her. Charlotte's face fell, and she began to float backwards, away from Red, a strange look crossing her face, and Red knew that this could hardly be good news either.

"The reason the House was destroyed is because Gideon has found a way to defeat me," she said in a whisper. "He has a gun that can channel Ghost Energy in such a way that it blows me apart and renders me useless for an unknown amount of time. He manipulated me into using my magic to get him my book, and I feel horrible. I have gone all this time without anyone being able to stop me, and that prat comes back from the dead and uses my powers against me!" Charlotte looked genuinely shaken by this, and Red couldn't help but feel a touch of sympathy for her, but it didn't last long as he thought of what needed to be done. With yet another sigh, Red collapsed onto a pile of rubble that formed a pretty decent seat a few feet away. Things were not making a lot of sense these days, but he needed to do his best to keep the region together against the plots that brewed against it.

"Charlotte, I want you to stay here and organise the ashes back into their appropriate graves while you recover from this," Red said, and glanced up to see how the ghost would take the orders. Charlotte had paused, thinking it over, but eventually gave him a nod of approval. "I will send for you when the job is done, but stay out of things until you are called."

"What exactly are you going to do?" Charlotte asked with her tone full of rudeness as always. "The girl is concerned about your legends following her around, maybe call the beasts off."

"No!" Red said firmly, getting back to his feet and thinking in the back of his mind how relaxing sleep would be right now. "There needs to be something out there to protect her from everyone that's trying to kill her." And without another word, Red turned and stormed towards a hole in the wall, seeing it as easier than going through the reception. He needed to make sure Celadon was protected for when they went there, and he would have every possible person track down Gideon and work out what he was doing before he struck again.

"You can protect Alaska for as long as you want, but nothing will stop Gideon, and when it comes down to it, nothing will stop her," Charlotte called out. "Just think back to 2008, Mr Lowe: weren't you just the same?"

I certainly was, Red thought to himself as he stepped out into Lavender Town, which is all the more reason to make sure she doesn't do something stupid


Gideon stared down at Charlotte's spell book, clasped within his pale and nearly skeletal hands, feeling a sense of happiness for the first time in years. It had been over twenty four hours since he had fled Lavender Town, yet he still couldn't believe he had it: this most prized and priceless item, something thousands of men had sought after for all their lives and something only few could lay their hands on. It had been years since Gideon had last possessed it, and he planned to hold onto it for many more.

Yet as he stared down at the book, Gideon found he still couldn't shake this odd feeling stirring in the back of his mind. It had arisen halfway through the day, and though he had originally thought it to be a complication brought on from Charlotte tampering with his watch, the scientist was starting to believe it was something more than that. It was weighing down on his thoughts and distracting him from his joy, and Gideon wondered what had happened that could have brought these thoughts on…

Alaska… he concluded at last, a foul smile forming from his lips. It was always her: the black haired teenager always came to him in the middle of the night, taunting him with the fact while she never defeated him; she outsmarted him, survived him and brought news of his actions to the wider world. The girl was a danger, and she had come so close to defeating him yesterday that Gideon had worried in a second before he teleported that she just might get hold of him.

Yet she did not get me… why? Gideon thought, and the answer came as quickly as it was asked. Ah yes, she feared for her friend, the blonde… I shot her, she fell, and Alaska forgot all about me and went running back to her… Gideon glanced down at the spell book and smiled grimly: there was no delight in having this item if Alaska would only defeat him in the end, but the scientist may have just found his answer. The realms of sociology and psychology were sciences he had never truly understood, but even Gideon could see the girl feared and cared for the life of her friend, just like she would if it was a family member or one of her Pokemon's lives hanging in the balance…

Gideon began to laugh a deep, cruel chuckle as he clutched the book to his chest, and became gleeful in the knowledge that he had finally found Alaska's weakness, which meant he finally knew how to defeat her…

The Celadon Arc starts next, but I will only do one chapter before I start the next, shorter Galactic, so expect a few cliffhangers! Feel free to share any theories you have about what everyone may be planning, I would love to hear what everyone is thinking!