I will say now that there is perhaps a tad more swearing and violence then normal, so be warned.
Chapter Sixty Two: Science behind the Madness
"Do you want to know how I know this place is rich?"
"How?"
"This stairwell is fancier than my entire fucking house," Alaska replied with acid. She stared with contempt at the smooth, unmarked white walls that enclosed her and Sandy, the shining metal railings that had been polished so they sparkled as brightly as silver, the stairs that had been painted different colours to signal the many different departments.
"This stairwell has more colours than all of Viridian!" She added with an indignant snort. "Who exactly is Mr Silph showing off to? 'Ooooh, look at me, I can afford to paint my staircase five different colours, and I piss gold and shit bronze in my flying emerald outhouse!"
"I'm sure if you had the money for that dream house of yours, you would probably use more than one colour of paint for your stairs," Sandy replied with a smirk. She paused as she reached another landing, a heavy grey door barring them from moving onto the next floor. Sandy fiddled with the door handle, but it refused to budge. "Another one locked."
"If I had some money, I would not waste it on paint," Alaska continued as they moved down the next flight. "I would just buy a ton of jewels and craft my entire house out of rubies and sapphires, and maybe a few emeralds as well."
"That would be subtle of you," Sandy laughed. "What would be next, diamond encrusted door handles? A pearl infused bathtub?"
"Something like that," Alaska replied with a wink, and the two laughed as they strolled down the next flight, their laughs echoing inside the empty stairwell. The two had quickly decided that they could not risk staying in the Television Department, not with their Pokemon stolen and a killer on their tail. Once they found the lifts inoperative though, they had resided to climbing down from the eighty-seventh floor and finding somewhere else to recuperate or someone to help them. So far, they had climbed down about ten flights, but they had still not yet found an open door, and were both beginning to wonder if they would have to climb down the remaining seventy-seven flights to reach the bottom.
"This one's locked as well," Sandy sighed as they passed another one. "If we end up getting trapped in here, I am going to blame you! You insisted we come down here!"
"Would you have preferred we stayed in Buzz's office, either choking to death or having our throats torn out by Houndoom?" Alaska snapped icily, and with those words their humour disappeared, both their faces sinking. It had been nice to joke for a few minutes, but Alaska knew there was no point pretending anymore; they were trapped and alone in one of the most prominent buildings in Kanto, their Pokemon and possessions stolen and in danger, and all the while one of the biggest shocks they had received so far was hanging over them, a dark cloud that they were struggling to process.
"Sorry, I shouldn't have snapped," Alaska sighed. "It's just learning about Buzz and the reality show, it's quite a shock, you know?"
"Do you… do you think they knew?" Sandy whispered her voice suddenly soft and sad. "Lachy and Damian, do you think they know who their producer really is? I know we aren't really friends with them or anything, but after all the times we've met them… after yesterday… I couldn't bare to think they have been plotting against us this whole time!"
"What?! No, of course not! They can't have," Alaska replied, trying to sound sincere, but she was not sure what to believe anymore. The revelation that the man who had just tried to kill them was also responsible for Indigo Dreams was strange, confusing and ultimately unsettling, and Alaska's mind was reeling as she tried to process all this information. Everything Buzz had said about them interrupting his plans made more sense now, but Alaska was not sure what role Indigo Dreams had to play in the bald man's grand plan; somehow, the robots, Buzz and the reality show were all interwoven and building up to something big, potentially happening at Champion's Stadium. Alaska knew they would have to warn someone about this, such as Daisy or the Athlews, but in to do that she needed to get out of this building and find her Pokemon before Buzz caught up with them once more.
"Damnit, another one locked!" Sandy hissed, cutting through Alaska's thoughts, and she turned to find her friend banging against yet another unmoving door. "What's the bet we make it all the way to the bottom and none of these damn doors are going to be open!" Sandy snapped, and she angrily kicked out; the lightweight however simply bounced off the solid surface, nearly falling down the stairs before Alaska grabbed hold of her.
"Come on now, keep it together!" Alaska scolded, though she tried to keep a smile on. "You are always the calm one that's supposed to stop me from injuring myself! What's wrong with you today?" Sandy sighed as she steadied herself, and she looked at Alaska with wide, mournful eyes that were red around the edges.
"This is all just so infuriating!" She groaned. "After last night, I thought we had finally managed to get a grasp of this stupid situation; we were both in a good place, and I was hoping we could spend a few more days staying away from everything. But it's less than twenty four hours later and everything has changed already and I can't wrap my head around it! How are we supposed to have any control over this situation when we have no idea who to trust or who we are even fighting?" Alaska knew if the situation had been reversed, Sandy would be offering her something comforting right about now, but Alaska could not think of anything when she felt exactly the same way.
"We will find out what everything means eventually," she said, "if we survive, that is. Meeting Buzz could actually fill in some pieces of the puzzles; Gideon can't have built the robots if one of them nearly killed him, and Trevor and all those elites have always implied there was something else going on here. This is all one big puzzle, and every psychopath and every murder and every ghost and every stuck up rich women with cobwebs in her pants is just another piece we have to slot in."
"That is perhaps one of the most disturbing mental imagines you have ever given me," Sandy said wearily. "I'd almost laugh if I didn't think the last thing we'll ever see is a multi coloured staircase." She looked down at the painted concrete beneath her feet and furrowed her brow. "Your right, Mr Silph is a douche – what sort of pretentious dickhead paints their fucking staircase?"
"Why Miss Samson, I do believe you just said a swear!" Alaska gasped, and she melodramatically faked fainting. Sandy finally cracked a smile, and the two friends began to laugh once more. They could have kept it up for minutes, however, a sudden crash sounded nearby, and the two seized up, looking frantically around for the source.
"Down there!" Sandy hissed, and she pointed at a door two flights down, a crack of yellow light seeping through an open gap. The two girls exchanged looks before sprinting down the stairs, pulling out their stolen guns as they did so. Their footsteps echoed inside the deep stairwell, and Alaska felt dizzy as they took three steps at a time and raced around corners, but neither of them was going to lose this opportunity. Muffled voices came from behind the door as they got closer, but by the time Alaska and Sandy they reached it there was not a single sound coming from behind.
"Maybe they heard us," Sandy whispered, her voice barely audible. "They could be arming themselves!" She added frightfully
"Maybe they are, but we for once, we're armed too," Alaska replied, smiling confidently at her friend, and she kicked the door open and stepped inside.
This floor seemed like it belonged to a completely different building to the offices below; rows and rows of benches filled the area, laden with everything from computers and stacks of folders to test tubes, microscopes and strange machinery varying in heavy machinery at the end of each row. Everything was bright and white, giving off an sterilized feeling, and the fluorescent lights shone off every surface. The lifts and doors were the same as above, but there were no rows of offices like the production floor, and there were no windows, simply more walls trapping them in. It seemed deserted, and Alaska stared tensely around, wondering if the voices had been imagined. However, something glinting caught her eye, and Alaska looked down at the tiled floor and saw a large piece of glass a metre from her feet, looking out of place amongst the order.
"There are still people here," she whispered, and she held her gun tighter, quickly gazing around the rest of the floor; there was a boardroom near the stairwell, but Sandy was already looking inside, so Alaska briskly marched down the rows, looking for anything shifty. There were definitely odd things here, with beakers holding strange liquids, pieces of what appeared to be flesh pinned to rectangles of glass and several jars that smelt like death, but as far as Alaska could see there was no one around.
"I can't see anyone," she called out. "I think we are in some sort of research lab, there is all this creepy and nerdy crap around, and this place just seems synthetic."
"No one's in the boardroom either," Sandy yelled back. "I can't see where else they would be though, unless they escaped into the lifts before we got here."
"The lifts aren't working, remember – I'm pretty sure the entire building has gone into lock down," Alaska replied. She sighed and turned around, trying to find somewhere that people could be.
Suddenly, two figures leapt out from nowhere, white coats flickering as they landed centimetres in front of her. Alaska quickly raised her gun, but before she could fire, a screaming Sandy unleashed a hail of bullets upon them; there were several loud gunshots that mixed in with her hysterical cries, but after a few seconds the gun simply clicked uselessly, though it took a few more moments for Sandy to realise and halt what she was doing.
"Are you quite done?" Alaska hissed, and Sandy nodded fearfully, tossing her now useless weapon aside, her bullets having hit no one. Eyes rolling, Alaska turned back to face the two figures, and saw they both had thin metal rods in their hands, presumably meant to be weapons, but Sandy's gunfire had stopped them in their tracks. Alaska smirked and raised her gun, but she was startled when the figure to her left looked towards her, and distant recognition signalled in her head.
"Alaska Acevedo!" The man gasped. He was lean and lanky with a thin face and pointed rat like features and Alaska was finally able to click who he was.
"Mr Melton!" She said in equal shock, lowering her gun as he lowered the rod, and she felt a strange mixture of surprise and relief. "Sandy, this is Mitchell's dad Alistair. I forgot you worked at Silph Co.!"
"Well, I had heard you had left on your journey, but I never expected us to cross paths in such a manner!" Alistair Melton said, his face practically glowing now with relief. "What on earth are you doing here though, and why have you not evacuated the building?"
"Why haven't you?"
"We were right in the middle of an experiment when the sirens went off and we had to stay behind to finish," Mr Melton explained. "We had just finished when Samuel heard laughter in the stairwell and thought we were under attack!" Samuel, who was much younger with messy black hair and a round, freckly face, blushed at this, but Alaska did not give him a second glance.
"That was just us thankfully," she replied, though her mind was suddenly spinning; she was aware she would have to lie about why they were here, otherwise, trusting they got out alive, Mr Melton would tell her parents all about how she had been kidnapped and nearly tortured, and that was the last thing Alaska wanted. "We were just seeing someone we know from Indigo Dreams in the production offices, and then Zapdos suddenly attacked and Sandy and I were knocked out. When we came to, the entire floor was empty, the lifts weren't working and we had no choice but to head down the stairwell. This is the first open floor we've come across."
"I'm not surprised; the old building was attacked and destroyed several years ago, and with all these attacks in Sevii and Vermilion recently I suspect everyone thought things were happening again and couldn't wait to get out," Mr Melton explained grimly. "The entire building shuts down after a few minutes and all doors get locked from the stairwell. The Scientific Research and Development doors lock from the inside too, so we would have been trapped in here if we hadn't propped the door open." Alaska looked back, wondering if they had shut it on their way in, but thankfully there was still a thin gap allowing them to escape.
"How we are going to get out of here then?" Sandy piped up as she joined the quartet. "If the entire building is shut down, how will we get through the entrance?"
"The building will only remained locked as long as Zapdos, if what you said is true, is a threat; once they remove it things will be fine," Mr Melton explained calmly. "Doesn't our Champion possess him? I'm not sure; I don't follow gossip that much, or Pokemon news really! I only ever care about Pokemon when we're studying them," he added, gesturing with his head the way he had come. Alaska and Sandy both turned and for the first time saw a corridor leading to the other side of the floor, though it was unsurprising they had not yet seen it; there was only a thin gap of the tiled floor that was not filled by massive white boxes the exact colour of the walls.
"Do you want to take a look?" Alistair asked, seeing the curiosity on their faces, and he led the way between the boxes. It felt claustrophobic, stepping away from the harsh whiteness and into the enclosed corridor, but what was more startling for Alaska was the fact they were not boxes but cages; about a dozen different species, including several Rattata, a Beedrill and a muscular Poliwhirl, were housed within the five metal walls, with a sheet of glass separating them from the outside world.
"Can they breathe?" Alaska asked, staring incredulously at the confined Pokemon.
"Yes, and before you ask, they are perfectly happy in there," Alistair said, with the tone of someone who was judged on this matter frequently. "They have been loaned to us by their trainers, and they get returned after we are done with them. The cages have panels that are similar to those inside a PokeBall, recreating the Pokemon's natural habitat, so they do not feel out of place."
"What exactly are you using them for?" Sandy asked.
"Various things; these Zubats, for example, we are testing a special type of repel that only works on them," Mr Melton explained, pointing to a smaller box in which a trio of Zubats were flapping about. "And we were recently donated an Eevee by the Athlew family to look into its evolutionary make-up." Sandy's jaw dropped, her eyes bulged, and she looked excitedly at Alaska before rushing over and pressing her face against the cage, making sickening cooing sounds. Mr Melton seemed taken aback, and it took Alaska a few moments in her frazzled mind to make sense of it.
"Oh yeah – we stayed at their house for a while, and Sandy bonded with the Eevee cubs," she explained.
"Well, in that case then, why don't you say hello properly!" Mr Melton cried, and he pressed a button on the cage; the glass slid open, and Sandy squealed as the small furry Eevee leapt into her arms. Alaska smiled broadly, pleased to see Sandy happy after their troubling revelations. She wanted to relax too, but Alaska couldn't when she had no idea what was going on around them; the windowless walls gave no view of Zapdos outside, she didn't know if Buzz was coming after them (though she smirked to herself at the fact he wouldn't exactly be coming at anything for a while…) or if he had sent henchmen, Houndoom or even robots to hunt them down, and the thought of remaining in the one open floor in the whole building was not reassuring..
"Is there anyway of contacting the ground floor and explaining our situation?" She asked, briefly noticing Samuel's eyes bulge as if in horror but ignored him.
"We have working phones, but if there is a crisis I doubt they will be manned," Alistair replied, walking back over while Sandy played with Eevee. "Trust me Alaska, things will be sorted soon enough! We have some free time to ourselves, you should be relaxing, not fretting – it's not like anyone's coming to kill you!"
"You don't follow my blog, do you?" Alaska replied with a smirk
"I am not much of a blogger," her old neighbour replied with a chuckle. "We have some time spare until you and Sandy can go, so why don't you tell me a bit about your adventures? You left around the same time as Mitchell, have you seen him at all?"
"We've crossed paths a few times," Alaska said with a careless shrug, "but we don't really stay with him for that long, something always happens that forces us apart again. I am sure he would have told you about all those," she added. However, she received no response, and Alaska looked across to see Mr Melton's face had sunk.
"Actually, no… no, I haven't heard much from him… it has been a few months now since we last spoke, if I am too be honest…," Alistair replied, his voice going high and slightly squeaky. Eevee gave a delighted squeal from behind, and the scientist turned to face them. "Umm, actually, on second thoughts Alaska, we will discuss that later," he said, and quickly walked into the corridor and began rapidly explaining the experiments to Sandy. Alaska was taken aback by her neighbour's rash change of topic, and she stared at his back in wonderment; was there something going on with Mitchell or his family she was unaware of? She looked away, not sure quite what to make of that situation, and found that she alone in the lab with Samuel; the assistant was yet to say anything, but he was looking at Alaska was a strange mixture of embarrassment and seriousness. Alaska was unnerved by the bizarre watchful look, and stared absently around for a conversation to distract them.
"What are the rest used for?" She asked drolly, raising her eyebrows at Samuel. For a moment, he remained as red faced as a school boy, but then his awkward frown stretched into a wide smirk. Cautious, Alaska took a step backwards, a sudden but familiar feeling that something was about to go wrong seeping through her body.
"We were asked to work with them; to study them, to watch how they move, how they act, how they react to friends and foes," he replied, his voice slow and cold. A bang sounded distantly in the background, and Alaska fearfully looked around but saw nothing. Samuel took a step closer, and Alaska tensed, staring defiantly back at him even though she now felt sick, aware of what this was. "And do you want to know what we use that information for?" He asked quietly.
"No, why don't you enlighten me?" Alaska asked forcibly, looking at the others for help, but Mr Melton and Sandy were distracted by the excitable Eevee. Samuel suddenly lunged and grabbed onto Alaska's right arm with sweaty palms, and he leaned up right next to her ear, his foul breathe warm against her skin, making her spine shudder.
"We build robots," he hissed. Alaska's froze, a million emotions rushing through her head, and her eyes turned to the cages; there was a Beedrill sleeping at the bottom, a Golem housed in the largest one near the back, two Electrodes were sparking only a few metres away. Samuel began to laugh, and Sandy and Alistair turned curiously as shouts echoed from somewhere nearby. Alaska could not process the fact she had walked right into a trap, but anger quickly replaced her shock, and she turned bitterly to face the freckled foe before her, her heart beating cold rage throughout her body.
"Oh fuck you," she hissed and brought her gun around; Samuel stopped laughing as the handle hit him in the nose, blood spurting out both nostrils as he stumbled towards a desk. He hit the floor with a thud and Alaska felt brief satisfaction, but there was no time for joy. "SANDY, WE NEED TO GO!"
"What is going on, why did you just attack my assistant?!" Alistair gasped, watching Alaska in horror, but Sandy pushed past, the Eevee cradled in her arms and fear spread over her face. Alaska ignored the question and she began frantically considering their options, but it quickly became clear they had none; scarce weapons, no Pokemon, and there was nowhere to run in a completely sealed building. This was the most trapped Alaska had ever been, and she tensed up as Sandy looked pleadingly at her, unable to think of a way to escape her enemies when they had control over her surroundings.
There was the sound of a door slamming, and Sandy and Alistair both gasped. Slowly, fearfully, Alaska turned around, well aware all hope was draining away.
A crowd of men stood before them.
A dozen muscular men stood at the other end of the floor in front of the boardroom, huge black machine guns resting against their meaty chests. They all wore similar snarls and sadistic smirks, combinations of scars, shaved heads, stubbly jaws and black and khaki coloured clothing to add to their intimidation. Alaska stared across them, wondering how they had gotten in when the door appeared untouched. She looked at the gun in her hand and knew it would do little. She stared at the two people on her side, but fear and shock had made them freeze as well. They were vastly outnumbered and had nowhere to go, trapped in the middle of the floor.
Essentially, they were screwed.
"So, I take it you men aren't here to learn about the wonders of science?" Alaska asked casually. Some of the men chuckled deeply, others grunted, but one stepped forwards, his face mostly hidden by greasy black hair and a matching bushy beard, and raised his weapon upwards.
"To be honest with you sweetheart, the only science I give two shits about is how my machine gun here works," he said with a gravely snarl. "Want to take a closer look?" The henchmen laughed louder at that, and before Alaska could respond a metal rod appeared around her neck, and she was suddenly pulled back against Samuel, the rusty iron wedged hard against her throat. She tried to speak, but Alaska found herself unable to breathe for the second time today. Samuel grabbed the gun from her hand and threw it aside, and the bearded man stepped forwards, cackling.
"Girl, you have no idea how many people want you dead, and we are just the ones to make their wishes come true!" He sneered, to the laughter of his cronies, and he pointed his machine gun directly at her head. "They all have different requests, but let's give you an option. So tell me dear, how do you want to die; head or heart?" Alaska could not help but stare fearfully at the big black weapon as the man edged ever closer, the barrel suddenly seeming so wide as if it would obliterate her with one bullet; she fought against the rod against her throat, Samuel breathing creepily against her neck, but she was rapidly losing her strength and was close to passing out. Was this really going to be it…
"Excuse me," Sandy suddenly called out, stepping forwards with her hands around her back, and the bearded man stopped, turning quizzically towards the blonde. "I just wanted to check; do you men work for a Mister Buzz Bolton?"
"Yes, I think that's his name," the man responded with a shrug.
"Good, good; and are you here to kill me and my friend?"
"Um… are you blind dear? Obviously!" He sneered back.
"Oh no, of course not, I just wanted to make sure before I did this," Sandy said, and she whipped the gun around and fired; the man gasped as a bullet slammed into his chest, blood quickly pouring out of the wound and down his shirt. His weapon fell to the floor, and he stared, along with Alaska and the other gunmen, in shock at Sandy.
"You shot me… they didn't tell us you'd have guns…" he mumbled, before collapsing against a table and knocking over a row of beakers.
"Yeah, well Alaska and I are hard ass mother fuckers now!" Sandy hissed with the level of sassiness Alaska had only previously seen in hairdressers and angry housewives, and she pointed the gun at the other men. "Samson and Acevedo at your service, and we aren't being messed around with ANYMORE! So you can go back and tell Mr Bolton that we say heeey, and if he thinks he's messing with us than he has another thing coming!" Her voice boomed inside the confined space, and even though she was rapidly losing oxygen Alaska still managed to feel proud. The remaining gunmen exchanged quizzical looks with each other for a few moments, then another one, this time a bald man with black stubble, stepped forwards.
"You are aware we still outnumber you, we have bigger guns than you and we still control the building and have possession of your Pokemon?" He said, his voice slightly higher than his dying colleague. Sandy paused, mulling this over, her eyes moving between the handgun grasped in her hands and their opponents twelve or so machine guns that were about quadruple the size.
"Oh right…," she said, realisation washing over her. "Umm… that's a tad awkward, isn't it? So your not going to leave then, are you?" The bald man shook his head as he lifted his weapon up. "Ah, thought so… well then… all I can really say is DUCK!" And Sandy turned towards Alaska; the black haired girl tilted her head automatically as the gun went off, and Samuel cried out. Machine gun fire began to sound throughout the floor, glass shattering and equipment exploding, but Alaska miraculously was not hit; Samuel was still standing but the bullet had startled him, his grip on the rod slacking, and Alaska used the opportunity to grab on and pull it off her throat, taking a sharp intake of air before lashing out at the table in front. Her feet pushed off it and she and Samuel went crashing to the floor, avoiding a hail of bullets as the gunmen turned their attention towards her, the ammunition instead hammering into the walls.
"EEEEEEVEEEE!" Sandy's friend shouted, and Alaska briefly saw a purple-black ball soar through the air but her attention was focussed on Samuel. She rammed an arm into his stomach just below his ribcage, and the traitor assistant yelled out, his hands flying from the rod. Alaska seized it and spun around, smashing it across his head repeatedly until Samuel's eyes fell shut, a long red graze now across his forehead. Relieved, Alaska threw the rod aside, well aware it would be pointless against machine guns, and turned back to the battle.
"SANDY, ARE YOU ALRIGHT?" She shouted.
"I'M FINE!" Sandy yelled back, quickly followed by three gunshots as she took aim at the gunmen. Alaska saw her friend and Mr Melton were hiding between the cages, the Eevee a few feet out firing attacks at the gunmen, and she realised she was very much exposed right now. Staring around, Alaska looked at the nearest table and saw it was not attached to the ground.
"IS THIS EQUIPMENT EXPENSIVE?" She yelled at Alistair.
"EXTREMELY!" He roared back, his voice shaking with fright.
"Oh well, I've broken worse," Alaska mumbled and she leapt up and grabbed the end of the table; with a mighty heave that made her arms and back groan, she tipped it onto its side, computers, beakers and microscopes smashing to the ground. Alaska rolled up against it as bullets instantly smashed into the surface, making significant dents but the table thankfully held.
"Sandy, use the grenades!" Alaska shouted. Sandy nodded over at her and pulled a pin from one of the small grey capsules. She lobbed it over towards the slowly advancing gun men, and Alaska peered around, waiting for the explosion; however, instead of fire and heat, a thin jet of grey smoke was unleashed from the top, spraying the nearest man in the face but doing little else.
"A smoke bomb… great, the one time I actually need to blow something up and it's a dud!" Alaska hissed. She could see that no one had fallen yet, and Buzz's gunmen were systematically emptying their weapons, half aiming for the table around her and the other aiming at the small gap between the cages. The only thing saving them were the crowded tables, the heavy equipment and computers taking the brunt of the bullet barrage, and the multiple rows were forcing the men to move slowly as they navigated their way forwards, perhaps weary of getting too close in case Alaska had any other weapons up her sleeve. Unfortunately, there was very little she could do; for once, Alaska had nothing she could whip out and use to defend herself or fight back, nothing that would stop herself getting shot in the head at least. She simply leaned back against the table and stared across at Sandy, whose gun was coming up blank, and a frightened Mr Melton, trying to think of some miracle solution.
I never would have thought I'd die alongside one of my neighbours, Alaska pondered as she watched stared across at the father of her of the biggest nuisances in her life. Alistair Melton was leaning against a cage, his entire body visibly shaking, eyes shut tight as if it would end the nightmare. It struck Alaska as almost full circle, coming all the way from their joint homes in Viridian, only to find death looming over them in the exact same location. The question of his reluctance to properly discuss Mitchell still struck Alaska as odd, and she looked at Mr Melton, wondering what secrets there were hidden in that head of his, and why he had not fled to the other half of the floor, as if he could somehow help them leaning against the cages.
Actually… Alaska thought, a thought rushing through her head. She stared back out at the incoming swarm of men, and saw that the smoke bomb was spewing a grey vapour across them, quickly engulfing the gunmen as they tried to get through the tables. Alaska smiled; it would provide enough cover to allow her a chance to reach Sandy, but they would need a distraction. Thankfully, despite her earlier thoughts, Alaska could see now they were not totally unarmed.
"MR MELTON, THE CAGES – OPEN THE CAGES!" She roared. Alistair looked up fearfully at the sound of his name, but then he saw Alaska and her words clicked into place. Alistair Melton jumped to his feet, his fear quickly melting away, and he ran past all the cages, slamming his palm against the buttons. Sandy jumped aside as the glass doors disappeared, and suddenly nearly two dozen Pokemon were racing out and heading for the gunmen; Alaska had learnt enough from her travels to know the sounds of battle would activate the Pokemon's natural instincts to protect their territory. The gunfire ceased and was replaced by screams replaced, roars and growls quickly filling the room instead. Alaska seized the opportunity and sprinted forwards, only briefly staring at the chaotic scene before her; smoke now filled the floor, hiding everyone in sight, but in the few seconds she watched Alaska saw Beedrill, Zubat and Poliwhirl came in and out of the vapour, each duelling a different gun toting henchmen.
"It worked!" Sandy squealed excitedly when Alaska reached them.
"No thanks to you," she said with a beam at Mr Melton, and the lanky man smiled youthfully back. "I'll make sure to tell Mitchell next time we see him about how his father may have just saved our life!" Alistair continued to beam and opened his mouth to talk, but it appeared Alaska had spoken to soon; an angry roar sounded from behind, and they turned just as the bald man lunged out from the smoke, a shard of glass clutched in his hands. Sandy screamed and Alaska pushed her out of the way, and the henchmen missed and collided into Mr Melton.
"Run!" He bellowed frantically, quickly grabbing onto the gunmen's arm. Alaska was taken aback, and for a moment she stayed, trying to find a way to help her neighbour. But Alaska was unarmed and her throat still hurt from where the rod had dug in; she merely nodded at Mr Melton and turned, hoping against all odds he survived, and with nowhere else to run, she and Sandy sprinted into the smoke.
There was something acrylic about the way it smelt; Alaska gagged and held her shirt up to her nose, and Sandy did the same, though she had more of a struggle as the Eevee was bundled up in her arms again. The two run up past the lifts, automatically heading for the stairwell and a chance of getting away before any gunmen noticed them. It was hard to see through the smoke, with anything more than a few feet away disappearing from sight; they could only hear the cries of the gunmen and the shouts of the sparring Pokemon, with the occasional smash of glass or metal clang of equipment falling. There seemed to be no gunfire though, and Alaska moved quickly, desperate to escape.
"Alaska Acevedo?" Someone cried, and instinctively Alaska turned; a man emerged out from the smoke, but it was clear he was no gunman; he was thin, the grey in his hair exemplified by the smoke, and was dressed in a long, tattered brown coat. He stared at Alaska with both glumness and franticness, and she paused, not sure how to react.
"Ummm, yes, why?" Alaska replied cautiously, her eyes flickering to the door but her curiosity was overpowering her need to survive.
"Thank god I've found you – you need to come with me right now!" The man said, reaching out for her arm, but Alaska stepped backwards, looking at him in revolt. Suddenly, like a dam bursting, all her anger and confusion came spilling out at this stranger, unable to hold it back any longer.
"Listen here buddy, I don't know who you are or what you are doing here, but if you know who I am, you are aware that I have great cause for being a teensy bit untrustworthy when it comes to meeting mysterious strangers, especially when it happens in the middle of an ambush by the henchmen of someone who was prepared to viciously murder me for interrupting his reality show. So unleash you have some damn good evidence to prove you're on my side, I will gladly kick you all the way back to whatever backwater ditch you emerged from!" Alaska finished, her chest heaving, the entire battle besides her going ignored. The strange man looked puzzled for a moment, but then his face spread into a smirk.
"You remind me of several young ladies I dealt with in Sinnoh," he said with a strange smile. "If you must know my name, it is Looker as far as you're concerned, but the most important thing to know is that if you want to live, you are going to need to trust me, starting from now," he continued, and before Alaska could say anything else, he shoved her sideways towards the lifts. There was a chance Alaska wouldn't have minded this, but there was just one problem.
The doors were open, but there was no lift waiting.
