Chapter Sixty Four: The Fun Times at the End of the Tunnel

"I must say, I thought for a few minutes there that I may have lost. I cannot tell you how relieved I am things have gone back to plan – I would hate to think what may have happened if you had gotten away."

Alaska tried her best to ignore the words, knowing that Buzz was attempting to goad her on, but she could not ignore them, not when they echoed inside the cavernous safe rooms, not when his metallic army surrounded her on all sides.

Alaska felt powerless as they were led in single file between past robots. They were the last thing she wanted to see, yet she could not look away; one row contained Electrode like what had attacked her in the tunnel, the next had Raichu, large and imposing, their shine hidden by realistic fur. Then there were a trio of Sandslash, their iron claws and spikes resembling daggers, while the Graveler standing behind seemed to have been crafted with actual rocks. There were so many Alaska could not take them all in, but Buzz seemed to have prepared a wide range; Lickitung and Vulpix, Kadabra and Growlithe, a Gyarados that filled an entire row, even the Kanto starter Pokemon were there, Charmander, Bulbasaur and Squirtle robots standing neatly in line, like small children waiting for their teacher.

This is sick, Alaska thought, finally looking away and staring forcibly into Mr Melton's head bobbing in front of her. Testing Pokemon, tricking people into creating weapons, letting them loose. This bastard is planning something, and I want to know what it is…

But, what will I be able to do to stop it? A second voice hissed, and Alaska resisted the urge to scream in rage and desperation. This was the problem she could not shake; how the hell was she meant to defeat these robots? None of her Pokemon had the abilities to tear about metal; if Alaska and her team could actually make it out alive, how would they ever be able to defeat Buzz and this indestructible army?

And there was the other big problem; escape. Alaska peered around Mr Melton and saw they were being led through a doorway, while behind them the wall was coming back down, cutting them off from the tunnel that had been their only hope. They were being shut in, and if they wanted to get out, a few walls and two armies stood in their way.

Alaska reluctantly followed Mr Melton through the doorway, but was stunned to recognize the room they entered; it was what Buzz had shown them eighty floors up. She wanted to make a break for it and run towards her bag, which still lay on a lone table besides Sandy's, but Alaska could see the gunmen were filing in with them, their weapons poised and ready to shoot if she even stepped out of line. With a stifled sigh, Alaska merely glanced at Sandy, whose eyes had widened fearfully at the sight of her purple bag, and her grip on the frightened Eevee seemed to have tightened.

A black-clad henchman gestured with his gun at the wall, and Alaska, Sandy, Looker, Alistair and Gallade stepped backwards towards the cold brick; the second their backs were against the stone, about two dozen guns were raised and pointed at their chests. A trio of Houndoom had been sent out, their razor-like teeth bared, knees bent ready to pounce, had been sent out, and they stood like sadistic guard dogs before them. Alaska tried to avoid them, but she could feel their hot breathe wafting over her, and she had a feeling they were not just there for Gallade.

For a few moments, silence filled the square room, a tense quiet that pressed down against Alaska. Trying not to imagine the metallic army in the other room, she glanced at her fellow prisoners; to her left, Looker at the end wore a face as though bored with proceedings, but his eyes were darting tensely around the room; Mr Melton was twitchy and screamed of having nerves, his eyes flickering about more frantically, rubbing his hands against each other; Sandy was to her right, and Alaska was pleased to see that while her eyes were as round as saucers and fearful, Sandy stood tall and proud, seemingly ready to fight, holding her rescued Eevee tightly.

However, Alaska was becoming more drawn to the fourth member of their team; Gallade had not tried to fight back, had not shown any fear of their situation, and currently was staring blankly forward, not even watching the prowling Houndoom. Some may view it as stupidity, but Alaska could tell that Gallade was focussed, perhaps psychically scanning the room. She looked at Eevee for comparison, and saw that the furry Normal type seemed uncomfortable and uneasy, disdainfully watching the Houndoom and armed men before them, and became even more curious; how strong must a Pokemon be to willingly enter a room where it could potentially die, simply on the command of their trainer. Alaska's eyes finally fell on her bag lying several metres away, and her mind turned to her Pokemon, how they could soon be dead without even realising it, without getting a chance to fight back…

The silence was broken suddenly by a squeaking noise; Alaska looked at the doorway a few feet from Looker as Buzz entered the room, the producer sitting calmly in a wheelchair and being pushed by one of the henchmen. Alaska watched as her latest foe paused in the middle of his men and wheeled around; Buzz smirked at them, hands resting calmly in his lap, now dressed in a long dark robe that did little to hide a bulge around his middle.

"Would you like a Meowth to stroke while you're sitting there?" Looker said drolly, and Buzz laughed highly in response, but his eyes did not the sound, instead watching the spy with anger.

"No thank you, Agent Looker, I am perfectly comfortable – and I must say, it is a pleasure to finally be able to meet you. I have heard much about your work in Sinnoh, and I was wondering if we'd ever cross paths."

"By the end of today, you'll wish you hadn't," Looker replied coolly.

"We'll see," Buzz retorted quietly, and it was now that Alaska finally clicked what had changed about him; his voice had lost its cold deepness that had shuddered through her body back in his office. It was higher now, not as pitched as Mitchell's but more as though he had sucked a bit of helium. Alaska struggled not to laugh, but she did manage to just catch Sandy's eye, and the two exchanged the briefest of smiles.

"Now, I am sure our male guests are wondering why I have brought you here," Buzz began, smiling softly at Looker and Mr Melton. "I am sure Alaska and Sandy recognise what is on the table, but for the spy and the scientist, those bags belong to the young girls next to you. They have not been messed with since being brought here; everything that was in them last night is still in there, including all of their PokeBalls.

"Next to you, you will see a computer," he continued, and gestured lazily towards a table besides them. Alaska had been too focussed on the guards before to realise it, but now she turned and took it in; it was several years old, with a chunky monitor besides a number of wires and a hefty hard drive piled on the desk. "Mr Silph built these safety rooms with a number of defensive measures in order to fully protect his employees from future attacks by people like me. That computer is to communicate with the outside world and between rooms, but it also controls this room's anti-terrorism systems. As I briefly mentioned earlier Alaska, there are pipes in the walls and ceiling, pipes that can, for example, spray oil across every surface or that can fill the room with concrete – two very gruesome, uncomfortable ways to die, I am sure, but you will all experience for yourselves soon enough." Alaska kept her face calm and defiant, and stared boldly back at Buzz as the wounded businessman grinned maliciously at her, but her heart was beating faster and faster, their impending death closer than ever before.

"However, before you all die," Buzz said, turning away from Alaska, "I want you to tell me Looker, what drew your attention to my plans? I am curious as I have been ever so careful with covering my tracks." His smile widened so much that Buzz now resembled some manic clown, and his eyes bore deeply into Looker. The spy did not look fazed by the bizarre look and did not respond for several moments, looking back at Buzz as if they were having a staring contest.

"The International Police have been watching you for several months now," Looker replied eventually. "Your name change and new hair colour did fool us for some time, but our face recognition software was able to match your features with some of the only footage we managed to retrieve from ChronoIsland. However, despite our best practices, you have indeed been protected behind the security measures of Mr Silph, one reason I presume why you came here to work. If it was not for Alaska here and all her blogs about, you may have gotten away with it, but other agents read between the lines of her posts and saw connections between the events she described and the man behind the reality show."

"Ah, I see, I see, so you came here today to find some actual evidence to use against me then?" Buzz asked, and Looker casually nodded. "Excellent, looks like Silph's paranoia has paid off; it has forced my enemies to enter my territory in order to gain information, and they cannot even make it out alive. But now, if you have done your research properly, surely you would have had to tell the League what you know? Why have Red's legendary pets not come knocking before?" Alaska turned to watch Looker as Buzz's words washed over him; for the first time, the spy looked uncomfortable, the confidence he wore wavering, his face sinking.

"That information is not for me to disclose; this is not my mission, I have merely adopted it," he replied, his voice quieter, but it seemed to be what Buzz wanted; he tipped back his head and roared with laughter; it was loud and cruel inside the confined space, and there was escaping the triumphant cackle as it echoed incessantly.

"Of course, the Indigo League will deny any attacks against them until their stadiums lie in ruins around them," Buzz boomed, his smile wide and vicious. "What old fools they are, ignoring signs when they are right in front of them. If they had only taken more notice, they would not soon have the deaths of two thirteen year old girls resting on their consciences." Buzz stopped laughing and turned to face Alaska once again, the humour lingering on his face. Alaska was confused by their exchange, wondering what both had meant and tried casting her mind back but failing to come up with anything; however, she now felt annoyed, having thought for a few minutes that this puzzle had begun to make sense, only to see that it merely got bigger with each piece she found.

"Now, my lovely dears, things are back to how they should be," Buzz purred as he greedily eyed Alaska and Sandy. "You nearly escaped from me, you nearly outsmarted me, and you managed to wound me, but all you have done is make me angrier and cleared my mind. I thought torturing you would be fun, that it would make up for all the time, money and pain you have cost me, all the embarrassment I have faced thanks to you both, but I see now that you two are like a virus; you have to be killed quickly before you can spread and get worse. So now you and your Pokemon can die together, all of you getting buried slowly within fast setting concrete, and I will watch as you endure a nice painful death, one that will give you time to reflect on all your actions.'

Buzz flashed another wide grin and clicked his fingers; the henchmen that wheeled him in walked briskly towards the computer keeping his eyes forward, not even looking at the people he was about to kill. Alaska angrily watched him strut across the room, but she became distracted; out of the corner of her eye, she saw Mr Melton suddenly looked more focussed, his tense, nervous demeanour disappearing, his hands clenched in fists by his side. Alaska could see her neighbour was not looking at Buzz or the gunmen, but was instead staring at the computer, his eyes wide and serious. Alaska watched him until Alistair finally noticed and glanced down at her, his face a mixture of fear and anxiousness, but her old neighbour looked back at the computer, then back to her, and slowly, he winked.

"Before you kill us, I want to know," Alaska yelled, turning quickly away as her mind began plotting; Buzz looked at her with vivid curiosity, and he raised a hand, making the grunt pause next to the computer. "I have to know; what is the deal with the robots and the reality show? What do they have to do with each other and me?" Buzz smiled wickedly, a grin that lingered for several seconds, and Alaska slowly reached out and grabbed Sandy's left hand, at the same time looking back at Gallade, projecting her thoughts out to the universe; was the blank faced Pokemon able to hear her?

"I suppose there are some things I can tell you, though I am not telling you everything," Buzz purred. "Ever since you interrupted the first challenge back in ViridianForest, you have thrown a spanner into my plans, and every time you appear, every time you stuff up a show or anger my contestants, I have had more reason to wish you dead. The robots have a role to play in this, but I sent two of our more defunct ones after you; when both failed to kill you, I became more desperate, and set up multiple traps. I had a footbridge in Diglett Tunnel damaged, and I hired a gunman to kill you should you make it to the Rock Tunnel; all those places were dark and confusing, and your deaths there would have meant weeks before anyone found your corpses."

"When you unexpectedly appeared at the Power Plant, I had the local barman paid off to poison your drinks should you enter his establishment. Unfortunately, you and Chloe fought before you could take a sip, though your friend would have died had she not been shot and bled out the next day. It was a foolish plan, but it just shows how desperate I have been to kill you; my hatred has made me sloppy."

"That doesn't really answer my question though," Alaska replied, though she did shelf away the information in the back of her mind, several minor details falling into place. "What purpose do the robots serve, and why are you hiding behind a reality show?"

"Did you get the picture out there?" Buzz snapped, his anger shining through as he gestured at the door. "They are my army, creatures I have created to defy anyone that stands in my way, and –"

"There was a Beedrill at ViridianForest," Sandy interrupted, and Alaska took the chance to watch the henchmen; their guns were still raised, but each one was looking between their boss and the two girls, none even looking at Looker and Alistair at the end.

"The robots had a role to play in the show, before you botched that up," Buzz hissed. "None of this would have ever happened had you not gone down into the Beedrill Nest; we may have never met, Miss Acevedo, and the robots could have filled their original purpose."

"So this all comes back to the reality show then?" Alaska asked, almost forgetting her mission at the possibility of answers. Buzz paused for a moment, his lips curling back into a smile, and all of the gunmen now watched for his reaction.

"My dear, have you not worked it out yet? Everything comes back to Indigo Dreams."

"NOW!" Looker yelled, and Alistair shoved Alaska forwards as he ran towards the computer. The gunmen were taken aback by the sudden change, and Alaska used her momentum to sprint forwards, pulling Sandy with her, and she had nearly reached Buzz before the shooting began; gunfire echoed within the small room, and Alaska felt several bullets skim past her, but nothing hit and she reached Buzz without injury. Her enemy's eyes widened as Alaska approached him, and Buzz fumbled clumsily at his side for a gun. Alaska smirked and pushed Sandy towards the table before jumping, lunging forwards and landing on Buzz; the chair tipped backwards, and the two fell to the floor, but Alaska managed to fling the gun away before he could use it.

"CROTCH SHOT!" She yelled, and drove her right knee into his groin. Buzz screamed in pain, and Alaska laughed coldly. She left him to wallow and quickly crawled towards the table. Sandy was hiding underneath for protection, sheltering Eevee from the attacks, but she had grabbed both of their bags and passed over Alaska's battered black backpack.

"What the hell is going on?" She wailed, shaking slightly as she stared out at the battle, and Alaska turned and watched; Looker had gotten hold of a machine gun and was firing sniper-like at the henchmen, taking them out one at a time while he protected Alistair at the computer; meanwhile, Gallade had his arms raised and his eyes flashed pink, but two of the Houndoom were jumping at him, engulfing him in Dark attacks and holding him back from helping.

"Alistair is doing something with the computer," Alaska explained as she rummaged through her bag for her PokeBalls, feeling relaxed now that it was back in her possession. "I am not sure what though, but I guess he will try to get us – wait a second," Alaska paused, her hands freezing around the brownies as a thought occurred to her.

"What, what is it?" Sandy cried, eyes widening in fear.

"There were only two Houndoom attacking Gallade," Alaska replied quietly, fear descending through her body. She quickly turned around but did not have to look far to find the missing Pokemon; a great big Houndoom stood right in front of her, smoke rising from its nostrils. It was standing so closely Alaska could count individual furs on its face, and could feel the heat rising in its throat…

"HOOOOOOOO-DOOOOOOOOM!" The Dark Pokemon roared, and Alaska barely had time to pull out the brownie tray before flames were unleashed. The rock hard desert deflected most of the fire, but Alaska winced as her fingers were singed, and the heat was burning her skin as the Flamethrower was forced towards the table. By the time the attack stopped the table was in flames, and Alaska frantically leapt out from under it and reached desperately inside her bag for a PokeBall. However, Sandy suddenly yelled, a sound so shrill and painful that Alaska's heart nearly skipped a beat; she turned and found Houndoom had targeted her friend as she escaped the burning furniture. Sandy was pinned beneath the creature and could only scream as razor sharp fangs slashed at her arms, while Eevee lay in a heap beside her.

"GET OFF HER!" Alaska yelled, and without thought she sprinted forwards, leaving her back behind and raising the tray high above her head. Houndoom turned at her cry, but was not expecting the attack; Alaska beat it across the head with the tray, and the Dark type whimpered as she wildly struck it with the brownies. With a furious glare, the Houndoom turned and sprinted away, heading off to find easier targets.

"Are you alright?" Alaska breathlessly asked Sandy, who still lay cowering on the ground, her eyes painfully wide. Her dress was splattered with blood, the lilac fabric turning a rich purple as red seeped through, and Alaska bent down to look.

"That wasn't a very nice way to treat a Pokemon, was it?" A deep voice growled. Alaska froze half bent over her friend, the unfamiliar voice making her spine shiver. She turned cautiously around, but only saw the stranger's black clothes before something large appeared in her face; suddenly, unimaginable pain spread throughout her head, and Alaska tried to scream as she toppled over backwards. Stars appeared in her eyes, and the entire room split in two and swayed around her. She heard Sandy scream and an angry yell, but Alaska could only focus on her face as the taste of blood appeared in her mouth; slowly, she raised her hands and felt the lower part of her jaw, but winced at her own touch. She realised fearfully that someone had just kicked her in the face, and they had managed to shatter her jaw in the process.

"Someone should have done that to you a long time ago," the loud, cruel voice hissed, and Alaska cried out as something suddenly pressed down on her stomach, forcing the air out of her body. A face appeared above her, and it was one of the ugliest things Alaska had ever seen; it was covered in huge, hideous burns, making the man bald and turning his skin red. Only one eye appeared to be open, and his mouth looked more like an unhealed wound than lips. It was the thing of nightmares, and Alaska knew that this was her attacker, one of Buzz's henchmen sent to kill her.

"You have given my boss a lot of grief," he growled, his entire body now pressing down on Alaska's ribs, and he raised a hand. "Now you need to be stopped." His fist came down so quickly it was a blur; Alaska could only whimper as her head shuddered, feeling as if a brick had just fallen on her nose. Blood spurted out of both nostrils, but before it could even register her pain the man grabbed her by the collar and heaved her up before throwing her against the wall. Alaska cried out and slumped to the floor, her entire body shaking now, blood pouring down her face and neck while her vision turned completely fuzzy, the entire room swaying before her; Alaska could see five Sandy's a few metres away, her friend staining the floor red as she crawled towards her bag.

"I have lost count of the amount of people I have killed," the hideous man boomed, though his voice now sounded as though he was at the bottom of a well. Alaska turned towards him, unable to hold back groans of pain, and a wide grin distorted even further by her blurred vision swam into view. "You are not the first women I have killed, you are not the youngest and the sad thing for you is that killing you will mean nothing to me. This is the dying thought I leave all my victims with; no matter what you achieve in life, no matter what you did do, planned to do or could have done, eventually, everyone dies; yours is perhaps sooner than you expected."

Alaska felt nothing except pain as the tall man grabbed her by the head, crushing her ears and tearing hairs out as he lifted her into the air. She could not look at him even if she wanted to, her vision had blurred so much that all she could see were colours, a weight pressing down against her brain. Darkness was already closing in, and as the scared man began to squeeze her head, disjointed thoughts flew across Alaska's ailing mind; she would never see Paige, Frances, Nadia or Shelley ever again, she would never see her family, she would never laugh with Sandy; she would never learn why Buzz or Gideon were terrorizing Kanto, she would never learn the mysteries of the reality show, she would never have to face the robots in open battle…

Maybe that is a good thing…

The pressure on her head suddenly lifted, and Alaska cried out as she fell suddenly to the ground, landing painfully on her leg before collapsing onto her back. Her scarred assailant was no longer there; instead a green and white creature stood shining next to her, a towering saviour glowing so brightly it hurt her eyes.

"Gah-lah-da," Alaska groaned through the blood filling her mouth. Gallade stared down at her, and his wide, empty eyes suddenly seemed so clear, so solid in her distorted vision. The two gazed at each other for a moment, and Alaska got the feeling again of being judged, analyzed, examined by the Psychic type; then, a blue light lit up the room, forcing Alaska to blink, and when she opened her eyes Gallade was gone, replaced by something huge and grey, a massive, writhing statue. Alaska shut her eyes as the beast roared, but she did not have the strength to open them again. As distant cries of her name fading away to nothing, Alaska resigned herself to accept the darkness, knowing full well what Gallade would have seen had he entered her mind, knowing that she should feel guilty for giving up so easily, for accepting this fate so readily. But really, Alaska thought, her pain disappearing, the pressure on her brain lifting, what is the point in fighting this any longer… I am never going to finish this puzzle…