It has been a month, I am aware, but I have stayed up late in order to complete this chapter so that there will at least be one update this month, and I can move on myself and get started on the rest of my backlog that is now months behind. Hope you enjoy, this arc ends next chapter.

Chapter Fifty Eight: A Dose of Reality

"CHLOE, NO!" A voice said firmly from behind the manic blonde, and Damian lunged forwards, grabbing onto his co-star just as she sent the PokeBalls flying. Chloe spun around and slapped him hard across the face, the sound echoing across the otherwise silent boardwalk, but Sandy was more focussed on the PokeBalls hurtling through the air towards them; the red and white capsules burst open, and Sandy leapt backwards as four Pokemon began to form around her and Alaska.

"Ivy, Ivysaur Ivy!" A green Pokemon snarled the second it had formed, four thick vines extending out from beneath a blossoming pink flower bud on its back. That's Bulbasaur's evolved form Ivysaur, Sandy thought fearfully, and she glanced around at the other Pokemon advancing for them. There's her Spearow and Clefairy, they should have evolved by now, it has been so long… and is that a Vulpix? She asked herself, looking down at a red furred Pokemon with curled locks over its dark eyes. A Fire type, the Fox Pokemon, evolves into Ninetales, capable of shooting flames at us…

"Shellder Shell!" A quiet voice emitted, and Sandy turned, having completely forgotten about the Shellder nestling in Alaska's arms. The Water type pushed itself out of Alaska's arms and landed in front of the opposing Pokemon, displaying a sudden eagerness for battle Sandy had not expected.

"Saur Ivy!" Ivysaur growled. Sandy had never seen one in real life before and could not help analysing it; it largely resembled a bigger Bulbasaur, but the Pokemon had an angrier face and the green bud on its back had changed, opening up into four leaves with a pink bud in the very middle.

"Vul Vul Vulpix!" Vulpix called from her left, an adorable Pokemon that could almost pass for a pampered pet with its curled maroon tails and soft paws, but Sandy cried out as the Fire type arced its back and unleashed a jet of amber flames.

"SHELL!" Shellder cried before stretching its mouth open wide; a rapid stream of bubbles came flying out, hitting Vulpix's attack and causing it to diminish into steam. As vapours began to shroud the Pokemon, Shellder turned towards her other opponents and began firing out a rainbow coloured beam that shone in the light.

"SPEAROOOOOW!" Spearow squawked as it received the brunt of the Aurora Beam, and a slightly frozen sheen covered her body. Ivysaur grumbled and it lashed out with his four vines, and Sandy flinched as one headed right towards her…

"That's enough!" Damian suddenly shouted, and Sandy opened her eyes. Before her suddenly stood Damian's Charmeleon; the red Fire type was taller and more muscular than Ivysaur, the flame on the tip of his tail burning bold and bright. The Flame Pokemon was staring menacingly down at his comrade, and reluctantly Ivysaur retracted his vines, stepping backwards and signalling for his team mates to follow his lead.

"For god's sake, can't we meet once without trying to maim and kill each other?" Damian yelled exasperatedly as he stood neutrally between the two sides, Chloe's Pokemon shuffling past him. Sandy could breathe calmly now, but she was unnerved at how easily she had been frightened. Can I really be blamed? I can't even walk down the street without getting shot…

"You can't blame me for any of this Damian!" Chloe shrieked, struggling against Lachlan's grip as he tried to hold her back. "It was those bitches that did all the damage last time! Look at my nose, look at my stitches!" She hissed.

"Stitches?" Sandy whispered confoundedly to Alaska, and the black haired girl turned with a slight smirk on her face.

"You really were off your face, weren't you?" Alaska sniggered. Sandy was perplexed by this, but she thought back to the evening at the bar, remembering the overly alcoholic drink she had taken, and the pieces she could hazily remember rushed back to her, creating an incomplete, unattractive puzzle of events: the reality stars entering, the insults, the cat fight, for some reason Sandy remembered sending Onix out, and then Chloe had been about to seriously injure Alaska, and Sandy had a blurred, alcohol-blinded memory of raising an empty glass above her head…

"OH MY GOSH!" She shrieked. "CHLOE, I AM SO SORRY, I DIDN'T MEAN TO HURT YOU, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT, I ONLY JUST REMEMBERED, DO YOU NEED ME TO PAY FOR YOUR HOSPITAL BILLS, I COULD IF –"

"Oh please, she had one tiny stitch that was only in for about three days, one of these guys put it in," Lachlan replied, gesturing to the burly camera operators behind him, and he smirked even as Chloe gave him her evil eyes. However, the blonde seemed to have been calmed now, and she stopped fighting against her co-star, instead simply glaring across at Alaska.

"What are you whores even doing here anyway?" She snarled. "We thought you were going to Saffron, that's what you said on your blog!"

"Maybe I lied," Alaska replied with acid. "There are a few nasty, manipulative little cows out there pathetically following my every move in quite a creepy way, and some of them I really didn't want to deal with." Chloe made a sort of grumbling noise, and her Ivysaur looking ready to advance again, but Alaska ignored them as she scooped up Shellder. Sandy had noticed that her friend had not really reacted to the sudden appearance of the reality stars as quickly or as viciously as she had in the past, and she could not help but wonder why.

"Whatever the reason why we're all here, I am sure we can get along… for once," Damian said with a forced smile. "Do we really need to destroy this walkway or create a tsunami over some silly squabble?" He added jokingly, though based on the look Chloe was wearing, Sandy wouldn't be surprised if she did end up having to flee from another metre high wave.

"Oh please, you can't stop these two; they've hated each other for years!" Another voice suddenly chimed in, and Sandy felt instantly guilty as she realised it was Mitchell, the young trainer being completely forgotten. The ten year old leapt to his feet, his wet shirt hanging over his shoulder, dripping down his pale back. All eyes were suddenly on him, but Mitchell stared around unfazed and unashamed at everyone before walking towards over to his bag.

"As much as I wouldn't mind the protection, I also don't want to get nearly killed again," Mitchell explained to no one in particular. "I always seem to nearly get killed when I'm near Alaska, and considering how much she and Chloe hate each other, I think there is a high chance that will happen," he added with an almost cheerful smile as he turned to Sandy and Alaska. "Nice seeing you two again, but I'm off," he finished simply, and turned and walked towards the camera operators, his sodden bag bouncing against his back. They all parted to let him pass, and Sandy smirked, impressed by Mitchell's spirit as the men merged back into their group and the ten year old disappeared from their lives once more.

"We need to get back to filming," one of the cameramen, a thin, blonde haired man, said as he gazed down at his watch. "We have a schedule to stick to, so if we can –"

"Stuff the schedule, I'm done!" Chloe hissed, and she broke free of Lachlan's hold and marched back the way they had come, forcing the crew to part again for her and her team.

"Chloe, we have to!" The thin cameraman wailed and he raced after. The other crew members had clearly lost interest in their cause and followed after, leaving only Sandy, Alaska, Damian, Lachlan, Shellder and Charmeleon behind.

"Sooooo…. what way are you going?" Damian asked with a touch of awkwardness.

"The same way you are, apparently," she replied, cutting in before Alaska decided they would face Barney again just to avoid Chloe. Sandy turned and smiled at her to get her to agree, and Alaska reluctantly nodded, her face showing little excitement.

Let her be angry, even though she has no right to be, Sandy thought as she grabbed her own bag and marched off without another word. She is always angry with someone, so let glare at me and glare at Chloe and then we will just move on and she will forget all about our argument, that's how it always goes! It had been a struggle enough voicing her feelings this time, and Sandy did not think she could do it again. She wanted to work out their issues, and she was certain they could have ended it now if the reality stars had not re-entered their lives.

"Hey there," someone said, and Sandy nearly jumped as she turned, half expecting it to be some new threat. However, she was relieved, albeit a bit surprised, to see it was just Lachlan, smiling pleasantly as he jogged to keep up with her.

"Hello," Sandy replied with a forced smile, realising she had sped off in her rage and slowed down. She tried to remember if she had ever spoken to the boy with the red-brown hair before, but Sandy quickly realised that she had never actually spoken to any of the stars on her own, simply watching in the background as Alaska tried to prove herself, get revenge, be catty for the sake of cattiness, whatever was fuelling her motivations that time around. Surely they must have some personality

"We haven't been properly introduced, have we? Even though we battled," Lachlan said, smiling awkwardly. "I'm Lachlan Lynch, but you can call me Lachy," he continued as he stretched out a hand.

"Sandy," Sandy replied, reluctantly shaking back.

"So, how was the water?" Lachlan asked, smirking slightly, and Sandy raised a quizzical eyebrow. "Your clothes… they're really damp," Lachlan explained. "Let me guess, you tried fishing and got pulled in by a Gyarados?" He chuckled.

"Close actually; a fisherman tried to kill us by getting his Gyarados to force us into the water," Sandy replied with hefty bitterness.

"Oh… sorry," Lachlan replied sheepishly. Sandy turned and saw how awkward he now looked, and she sighed before coming to a stop.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to sound so rude, it has just been a long day," she replied, smiling wearily. Lachlan nodded before glancing awkwardly backwards; Sandy copying him and spotting Alaska and Damian walking slowly behind them.

"We all heard your argument… unintentionally, of course," Lachlan explained. "I am guessing your friendship is getting a few cracks, eh?"

"You could put it that way," Sandy answered coldly, though she did not want to keep going over things when she could not actually talk to Alaska. Instead, she focussed on the route ahead; the walkway was finally nearing its end, moving closer to the tree-covered banks to their right and Sandy could see it turned a corner up ahead, leading back towards solid land – hopefully with no fishermen.

"How is the show going?" She asked, hoping for something to distract her from her own issues. The lanky boy shrugged with a look of bored indifference across his face.

"Same old, same old I guess," he mumbled in response. "We travel, eat and sleep, and then we film the stuff for the competition. Every second day we shoot a challenge where we have to complete some task to win bonus prizes, and then every other day we have training exercises and battle each other to get more points. We have been doing the same thing for the past few weeks or months, however long this has been, I've stopped keeping track."

"How come?" Sandy asked. She had only caught a few minutes of Indigo Dreams while staying at the Athlew Mansion, an episode based around Cerulean City, but it had seemed like a lively and entertaining show, the type of thing she'd watch if she was still at home and had no idea what had gone on behind the scene.

"I dunno, it's just not quite what I expected when I signed up to do this," Lachlan replied with a bored shrug. "They focus more on Chloe and Damian then they do on me, I am sort of just along for the ride."

I know the feeling, Sandy thought bitterly, but she was not going to make this about her. "What about all the training experience you get, and the fact you get to be on a journey towards the Pokemon League?" Lachlan turned and raised his eyebrows at her, smirking as they trumped along the concrete and neared the bend.

"Please, this thing is so rigged you'd think we were trapeze artists," he scoffed. "They don't keep track of the scores, Amanda basically just hands them out to which ever one of us she feels like giving them to, more often then not Chloe, and they edit the show to back up her decisions. They never show any of the stuff that involves Alaska, like that giant Beedrill or when she showed up at Mt Moon, they make us re-film the challenges and there ends up being different winners. It's as if they don't even care about us, they just want ratings or something…" His cheerful yet sarcastic tone faded as Lachlan finished his story, and he sounded rather deflated and dejected by the time he stopped talking. Sandy could understand his emotions; it must be crushing to sign up for a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity like this only to find out it is nothing as you expected it to be.

Though I guess the same has happened to me, she thought grumpily. The two walked in silence around the corner, and Sandy was relieved to find they had reached the end of the walkway. The past few days wandering almost aimlessly down the miles of walkway had been frustrating and depressing, and she could only hope the rest of their journey to Fuchsia would spice things up.

Her first step back onto dry land did not hold any exciting promises: Sandy and Lachlan stepped onto a long and nearly empty field, enclosed on the right and up ahead by trees untouched by human hands. There were some fences dotted around for reasons Sandy was not sure, though she could easily tell from the number of tents, collapsible tables and heavy black boxes that Indigo Dreams had set up here for the day.

"We've only been here a few hours," Lachlan said. "We were filming a training exercise when we ran into you guys, and we're doing a challenge with the fences tomorrow. Not quite sure what we are going to do now Chloe's stormed off, Amanda will have to reschedule." Sandy looked, wondering if Mitchell was still near, but the ten year old boy had taken off in a hurry and was nowhere in sight. She did notice the camera crew a few metres away, all of them delicately placing their expensive equipment in piles by one tent before roughly collapsing into folding seats alongside a table loaded with fruit, doughnuts and sandwiches. The show was clearly settled here for a few days, and Sandy was reassured by that; it would give her and Alaska more time to place some distance between them all, more of a chance to be alone and sort everything out…

"So, are you two going to carry on to Fuchsia?" Lachlan asked as if he had been reading her mind. Sandy was going to say 'yes', but she paused, listening out for Alaska's distant footsteps behind them. They had travelled all this way, had all their training battles, nearly died at Barney's hands all so they could make it to Fuchsia and face Janine. Sandy was willing to stick to this goal, but it was all up to Alaska at this point; she had voiced her feelings, she had made herself very clear how she felt, and now Alaska had to decide how to respond. Only then would Sandy know if she was carrying onwards with her partner, or retreating home, finally admitting that her father had been right all along…
"I really have no idea Lachy, not a single clue," Sandy mumbled finally, unable to hide the depression in her voice, and she felt a cold chill running through her body.

"Well, you want some food?" Lachlan asked uneasily. "We always have enough to feed an army!" Sandy was not sure about taking food from the reality show, but now that the thought had been put out there, she realized that she indeed felt a bit peckish, and she felt wrong rejecting Lachlan when he was being so kind.

"Why not!" She replied, smiling broadly, and Lachlan led her towards the table. The camera men and sound operators glanced briefly at them before returning to their plates, and Sandy wondered how weird it must be travelling around the region with these burly men following you, recording your every move. She could only imagine the strangeness of having a camera crew follow her and Alaska, documenting every explosion, every mistake, every weird thing that happened…

"WHAT?!" Someone suddenly shrieked from within the largest tent, and Sandy froze, her hand hovering just about a plate of chocolate covered doughnuts. Everyone turned to the mass of black fabric as the flaps were sent flying open, and out stomped Amanda Anderson, followed closely behind by Chloe and the thin cameraman. The thin, well-kept producer was impeccably dressed as always, wearing a charcoal coloured pencil skirt and matching blazer, her long hair done up in a tight bun with a stick to keep it in place. However, Sandy could not help but notice that all this effort went to waste with the furious look plastered across her face; Amanda looked as murderous as Chloe had a short time ago, her features horribly twisted as she leered at everyone, looking for the people that had ruined her day.

"DON'T TOUCH THAT!" Amanda shrieked as soon as her beady eyes spotted Sandy, and the blonde leapt backwards as if electrocuted, nearly knocking the plate over in the process. The producer stalked towards her, high heels squelching in the mud as she moved, and Sandy gulped, glancing nervously at a stunned Lachlan.

"What do you think you are doing here? I do not want you or your psycho friend anywhere near this production, not after what you did to a third of our talent!" Amanda hissed, her tight skin being stretched almost beyond its capacity by the furious flexing of her mouth. Sandy usually would have buckled under someone as frightening and threatening as this, and perhaps even a few days ago she would have apologised and fled for the hills. However, Sandy looked into that furious, twisted face glaring down at her, and she could not help but notice vague similarities between the woman looming over her and the friend only a few metres away; dark hair, pale skin, nearly identical in height, even their names had only a few consonants difference. Sandy could feel her rage from earlier risen up, and she straightened her back as she glared back at the producer.

"I am sorry Ms Anderson, but I do believe this is a public place and the only route going in this direction. You may manage this shoddy production, but you are not in control of who can and cannot walk through a public field!" She snapped, startling the producer. "I will gladly not touch your food if she wish, but considering I do not have much of my own left, I am sure the media would be very interested to know why a poor, starving trainer was denied a meal by your show!" In the background Chloe looked like she had been slapped, and Lachlan bulged his eyes in surprise, but Sandy took her greatest pleasure in watching Amanda's twisted face sink, her features straightening out, yet her eyes widen, her mouth fell slightly ajar, exposing unnaturally white teeth that clashed with her jet black hair. Sandy hated being spiteful towards other people, but she could remember the incident with the Clefairy at Mt Moon, the way the bitch before her had acted, it was greatly pleasing to be able to get some form of revenge against her.

"Very well then," Amanda said after a few tense moments, glancing awkwardly at the crew, who were struggling to stifle their laughter. "Have however much you want, but I want you and your friend gone by five."

"Don't worry, we will be," Alaska called, and Sandy glanced around as her travelling partner approached the table, giving Amanda a broad smile as she picked up a plate. "Hello Mandy, how's the show going?"

"Fine thank you, it has been a pleasant few weeks since we last saw you, we actually managed to film some content without something blowing up," Amanda replied icily.

"Well Mandy, we all know what the general public is like; gotta give them something new in order to tune in, am I right?" Alaska smirked as she piled as much food as she could onto her tiny plate. Amanda's eyes narrowed briefly, but she managed to get herself under control before turning away, whipping a phone out of her pocket and marching for the tent.

"Richard, meet me in here in five, we will arrange something new to film," she barked at the skinny cameraman before going inside and disappearing from view. The second she was gone Chloe wheeled towards Alaska, angrily snatching a plate.

"You should be afraid Alaska, very afraid!" The blonde hissed. "My Pokemon are getting stronger by the day, and when I get the opportunity to battle you, you will definitely be sorry!"

"I'm shaking in my boots," Alaska replied sarcastically.

"I wouldn't be surprised, those look far too poor to provide much warmth," Chloe snapped, and she began gathering food, not giving Alaska the chance for a final word. The black haired teenager simply smirked and glanced back at Damian, who smiled and laughed in a handsome manner.

Why are these two suddenly so buddy? Sandy thought with a touch of bitterness. I haven't seen her smile at me like that. One stroll down the boulevard means you've got a new bestie? Well two can play at this game!

"Over there looks comfortable," Sandy said to Lachlan, and she quickly walked towards a small boulder with a relatively smooth surface, her plate loaded with doughnuts, fruit and bread rolls. Lachlan followed and they sat down against the carved piece of rock, facing away from the tents and looking out at the ocean. The sea seemed bigger here, a never ending stretch of blue heading to the horizon. Sandy's clothes were still wet and she felt a chill run through her body as she imagined where she may have ended up her had Cloyster not come to the rescue.

"So after Fuchsia, do you think you will go back up to Saffron or head over to Viridian?" Lachlan asked, spraying chocolaty crumbs everywhere as he spoke.

"You forgot about Cinnabar," Sandy said, only half paying attention as she thought about the ocean, Alaska and Amanda al at once.

"Phwhat?" Lachlan mumbled, his mouth too fill of food to make proper sound. Sandy looked at him, his cheeks puffed out, crammed fill of chocolate and bread, and she laughed. It felt so good to let such a joyful noise escape her lips, something so much happier and freer than what she had felt recently. Lachlan raised an eyebrow in puzzlement, which only made him look funnier and reduced Sandy to further fits of laughter, nearly choking on her food as her stomach heaved.

"Are you alright?" Lachlan asked cautiously once he had swallowed, by which time Sandy had managed to control herself.

"I'm sorry… I have not had much to laugh about lately," she replied, blushing slightly but still giggling. She expected Lachlan to be weirded out, but instead he sighed and nodded.

"I know the feeling," he said in a soft voice. "I thought this show would be fun when we began, but we seriously have not done anything that exciting; just battling and sleeping, that's it! I'd like to be friends with Damian, but it feels really uncomfortable when people are recording every conversation you have, or they try and get you to discuss certain topics and say certain things, just to make everything more exciting." He turned to Sandy, his eyes swimming with water, and the blonde was completely taken aback.

"I wish I had never even auditioned for this show, I had no idea why I was even chosen!" Lachlan whispered, all sense of joking joy completely disappearing. "My mum suggested I do it, she thought it might be a fun experience, something I would remember for years to come. I've wanted to go on a journey for years, but it never seemed feasible money-wise until this opportunity arose. When they hired me I was over the moon, but it became quite apparent from the start we'd have very little freedom, that every movement would be monitored, that everything we did would be watched, processed and changed. I really hate this whole thing at times Sandy, I really do!"

"Oh Lachlan, I'm so sorry!" Sandy said, feeling partly obliged to say so but was taken aback by his frank admission. Lachlan turned to her, his body shaking slightly, and Sandy felt almost afraid.

"They have literally cut Alaska out of everything! No assigns of her, no signs of you, nothing! I swear to you Sandy, something is going on with this. I know she stuffs things up, but the way Amanda acts whenever you guys leave, whispering into her phone, shouting at everyone – it's as if you guys are ruining some great big plan of theirs!" Lachlan paused, looking back at everything for a second, before placing his plate on the ground and walked towards the edge of the land. A tense silence fell between them, the distant sounds of the crew creeping over. Sandy had no idea what to say; to his theory, to his feelings, it was too much to process.

A loud laugh sounded from behind, and Sandy glanced back to see Alaska cackling at some joke of Damian's. She watched her for a moment, waiting and wondering, and finally Alaska looked her way, the laughter fading from her face almost instantly. For a second the two exchanged a long glare, but Lachlan suddenly reappeared, sighing as he flopped back down, forcing Sandy to look away. The animosity was still there, the anger and the rage, yet as Sandy looked at the once joyful boy slouching on the rock beside her, slowing stuffing his face with the broken remnants of a jam filled doughnut, she could only wonder if she really had it worst.