Chapter Eighty Four: The World Keeps Spinning

"I don't think I have ever been so bloody bored." With a groan, Alaska slumped forwards on the table. Her head hit the polished wood and she stayed there, feeling every bump and jolt as the boat skipped over the waves.

"We're nearly there, only another hour or so."

"That can't come soon enough. How has it taken us days to get here? When I went to Sevii as a kid, it didn't take this long."

"Yes, but we're trying not to attract attention. It may be long but…" Sandy trailed off as she stared down at Alaska in the way an exasperated teacher would face a difficult student. "Never mind."

"You can finish your sentence."

"No, it's fine!" Sandy got up and walked away – not that there was much room on the boat for someone to walk away to. Alaska watched as Sandy fussed around in the kitchen, banging cutlery and crockery together, flinging open cupboards at random. "There's still some bread, do you want a sandwich?"

"You don't need to make me a sandwich."

"I've got to do something." Sandy sighed and rested her head against the cupboard. Alaska sat awkwardly in silence for a minute, with only the sound of the waves crashing against the boat interrupting them.

"Sandy, I –"

"You're right, this is bloody boring, but it would be nice if you didn't complain so much about everything. I – we don't need the reminder all the time, ok?"

Alaska nodded, even though Sandy wasn't looking at her. "Okay, that sounds fair… sorry."

"Excellent." Sandy straightened up. She looked at Alaska with a wide smile before stepping to the fridge. "I don't think we used all the ham yesterday. Can't just have lettuce and tomato, after all, we need a balanced diet, don't we?" Sandy laughed, though Alaska wasn't sure if she got the joke – was it a joke? Her mind was so frazzled, so utterly battered and bruised, she really had no idea what to make of anything anymore.

The last few days had been weird, to say the least. Meeting gods, training with ninjas, leaving behind the glorious mansion paid for by prostitution – Alaska had thought her journey had gone through every possible motion, yet around every corner there was another surprise waiting for her. If a time-travelling alien dressed like a hipster was waiting for them at Seafoam, she would be pleased for the return to normality.

To top it all off, they were now on a boat, bobbing their way through the southern Kantonese seas, hoping to find one old man hidden inside a giant frozen rock. The boat was pure luxury – when Alaska had seen it waiting for them at port, it looked like it had been ripped straight from a rappers music video; white, sleek and huge like a pale Wailord – but the strangeness could be felt in every room. The shift from intense training to five-star boating was odd, to say the least, and Alaska simply couldn't settle.

It didn't help that her mind was constantly elsewhere. From the impending battle to her talk with her mother, Alaska kept flickering between a dozen thought patterns at once, nothing able to hold her focus for long.

One thing she kept coming back to was the moment she had said goodbye to Leaf and Janine. After such a hostile first meeting, the trio had parted so cordially on the Fuchsia docks it was as if they were in an alternate reality. They either wanted her to be best friends with them or the gym leaders were simply ignoring the underlying tension in order to force Alaska into their bidding, it was hard to tell, but she also didn't mind. It had been the first time in weeks she had said goodbye to their hosts without any anger on her part.

Yet it had all been fine until Leaf had hugged Alaska, wearing that smile too broad to be believable.

"Remember, once you've got Blaine and made it to Viridian, we need to have our own battle. How does a six-on-six sound?"

"I don't have six Pokémon," Alaska had replied as she stepped onto the boat.

Leaf had exchanged looks with Janine then and giggled. "Not yet, anyway."

Several days had passed, but Alaska kept going back to that. Was she supposed to meet Latios sometime in the next few days, and what, capture him? She knew it was possible, but the thought of catching legendaries still felt impossible. Was he ready for that – was she ready? Could anyone ever really be prepared?

Yet Alaska had seen six of them up close. They had judged her, examined her, given them their godly seal of approval. Was that what Latios needed to be captured; approval from his peers? Or had that all been purely for Alaska? For what purpose? Frighten her, amaze her, arouse her? Speaking of the gods, could one of them move the boat along before she screamed…

"The ham looked a little gross so I washed it, so if it's damp that's why." The plate crashed down in front of her, snapping Alaska out of her thoughts. Sandy slipped back into the seat next to her, still beaming brightly as she tucked into her own sandwich.

"Thanks." Alaska picked up the sandwich and bit into it. It definitely was too wet, but she didn't want to upset Sandy, not when she was smiling again. The joys of sandwich preparation seemed to have lightened her up, though Alaska couldn't tell if it was genuine anymore.

She didn't think she was being suspicious. Every morning, Sandy greeted her with a smile as she had done nearly every day since Mt Moon, but since they had been on the boat Alaska had noticed how red Sandy's eyes were as she did so, marks down her cheeks to show where tears had dried. Had it been like this for a while now or only the last few days? Alaska hated that it took being trapped on a boat for her to notice, but she also didn't want to bring it up and spark another argument.

"The sandwich is good," she said. Sandy was staring contemplatively at her own as Alaska spoke, and looked up, disappointment visible on her face.

"Well, it isn't, is it? Not really." She threw it down onto the plate.

Alaska dropped her own one. "Well, now that you say it, it was quite…"

"Moist?"

"I was going to say 'dripping wet', but no, let's go with moist." She smiled, and Sandy laughed as she leaned back in her seat. "It'll be fine once it's, I guessed, dried out a bit. Here, let's try this." Alaska grabbed both plates and moved through the cabin: the tiled kitchen area that looked ripped from a catalogue gave way to a plush burgundy carpet that covered the front of the boat, with a huge leather couch against one wall and an entertainment unit so big it would likely crush her flat if it ever came loose.

Floor to ceiling glass doors opened up to the bow of the boat, where the luxurious deck sheltered from the harsh sun by the overhanging top floor. Spread out across the wooden floor, Paige, Frances, Shelley, Butterfree, Pichu, Sylveon, Goomy and Weepinbell relaxed in the sun, so content that none of them stirred as Alaska stepped past them and placed the soggy sandwiches on the table in the middle.

"They look so peaceful," she whispered as she stepped back inside.

"That's because they are tired. Tired and hungry, just like us." Sandy had produced a box of Crustle Crackers and a lump of cheese in gold foil, which she was stabbing with one of the brown wafers. "Found these at the back of a cupboard. The crackers are slightly stale and I'm not sure if this cheese is meant to be mouldy or not, but at least we know it's not going to kill us."

"You don't know that, the food poisoning might just wait and kick in halfway through the battle," Alaska laughed, though she reached for the crackers regardless. "Who knows, Gideon might strike tomorrow, anything's possible!"

She let out a single booming 'ha' before realising the weight of her words. Her eyes met Sandy's and she saw her fear reflected back at her. The two put down their crackers and sank into their seats like mirror twins. Alaska tried to avoid looking at Sandy or the Pokémon, but in the tiny cabin there were only so many places to turn to.

"Should we battle? I feel like we need to battle." Alaska got up as she said it, knees banging against the table, and she began to pace.

Sandy shook her head. "They trained enough yesterday and the day before that and the day before that. They've done a month's worth of training in the space of a few days; we need to let them recover."

"You're right, you're right," Alaska replied, her words coming out curt and sharp. "They are ready though, aren't they?"

Sandy shrugged. "They are about as ready as they can be, probably more so than any of the Pokémon of the other… saviours." She almost spat the word out, disgust rising up her face.

"Yeah, you're right." Alaska smiled as she said it, even though in her heart she doubted it. They had trained well the last few days – Paige in particular had benefited from bonding with Leaf's Pidgeot – but was any of that enough whether Gideon attacked in three hours or three months?

"Look, if you need to think about something else, why don't we do something sensible for once in our lives and plan ahead? We need to come up with some sort of idea of how to find Blaine." Alaska stopped in her tracks and wheeled around to face Sandy, who seemed to have devoured half the crackers.

"How? We literally have no idea where he is or why he chooses which people to battle . I think we're just going to have to get in there and start searching."

"That will take ages."

"I'm fine with that. Anything that delays the final chaos battle of doom is fine by me."

Sandy pursed her lips. "What if we spend weeks in there and we miss something important? Or we could get lost and freeze to death."

"Good point," Alaska murmured. She glanced around as she paced, wondering how many blankets Bertram had here. Did I even pack a jumper?

"I think we should split up. We can cover more ground and hopefully get out of there faster." Sandy looked up, eyebrow raised. "Is something wrong?"

Alaska hadn't realised she had stopped walking, nor that her face had betrayed her emotions, and quickly tried to rearrange her features. "What? No, nothing's wrong!" Sandy raised an eyebrow, and Alaska sighed. "I just don't… I'd rather not get separated from you, you know?"

There was a moment, frozen in time. It stretched on for an eternity, and Alaska wasn't sure why, but as Sandy looked at her, cogs ticking away in her brain, it seemed as though they had reached a make or break moment.

"Alright, we won't separate, if that's what you want," Sandy said finally, and she grabbed three more crackers and looked away.

"Is it what you want?" Alaska asked, her voice creeping out in a whisper.

"I'm not really fussed. It would be nice though to have a proper plan." Crumbs flew out of her mouth as she vigorously crunched down. Alaska could hear Sandy's teeth slam together over the slosh of the waves outside. The invisible presence between them was more obvious than ever, something Alaska knew couldn't follow them around once they stepped inside the caves.

"Sandy, is there something you aren't –?"

"I'm just very tired, Alaska, ok? It's been a rough few days… training and everything, I'm just quite tired." Sandy made a smile that she must have thought looked relaxed, but it was more strained than any other expression she could have chosen. Alaska bit her lip and stared at her: if she had been acting this way, Sandy would have tried pulling her out of her funk. Would Sandy appreciate being scolded the same way she yelled at Alaska? Not like I ever got a bloody say in it. She scoffed, catching Sandy's attention, and Alaska fell silent, her friend's eyes clearly shutting down that idea.

Instead, she grabbed some crackers and continued pacing. Sandy was right that they needed to plan, but Alaska couldn't concentrate. Her mind had been racing non-stop since they left Fuchsia, and it seemed worse than ever. Everything from Sandy to Blaine to Leaf to Buzz to her Pokémon, she was going over in circles so much she almost felt dizzy. She longed for something to distract her; Alaska gazed out the window, for once hoping someone like Kyogre or Palkia would swim past, so there would at least be something to talk about.

"Why haven't we seen any other islands? Shouldn't we have gone past a Sevii or something like that at least?"

"What? No, we're way too south for that. Sevii is, like, more… east, I think?"

Alaska shrugged, gazing out at the empty ocean. "I didn't realise my geography was this bad."

"Wouldn't it have been nice if we had had the option to go to a special place, say, every weekday, and learn important things like geography, math, Kantonese…"

"What sort of fantasy nonsense is that?" Alaska looked around with a smirk, and Sandy managed to smile, which turned quickly to confusion.

"Wait, I thought you had been to Sevii?"

The shock was clear in her voice, and Alaska quickly went to defence mode. "You don't have to know the geographical location of a place in order to visit there! Don't act high and mighty when you don't know where it is either."

"I'm not high and mighty, thanks! It's just…" Sandy drifted off, her expression turning sheepish. She reached out for some more crackers but stopped, hand hovering over the packet. "Can I be honest here?"

"Isn't that our policy?"

Sandy shot Alaska a look before carrying on. "I really knew nothing about what happened to Sevii before we met Bertram. Is that bad?"

"How nothing-y are we talking here?"

"I knew there had been a war, obviously, but not about how much of the islands had been destroyed, or the Kalosi people having to move there to rebuild everything. Did you?"

"A bit," Alaska admitted. "Remembering the past became a big thing, at least for a while, after they rebuilt Viridian, so we learned all about the big wars and what Team Rocket had done, I guess as a lesson not to repeat the past?"

"Right." Sandy nodded absently, still wearing that dour look. Alaska tentatively stepped forwards, contemplating if she should put a hand on her the same way Leaf had with her, but never got the chance. "I don't know why I'm bringing this up, it's just been on my mind for a few days now. I guess I just feel bad that all that suffering happened and already it's just a thing of the past, you know?"

"I do." Alaska thought of how Viridian been, the wide streets and the mismatched houses, the suburban feeling where you felt like you knew everyone. Now all that was gone and no one talked about it, not around the townhouses sitting symmetrically opposite each other. No one wanted to remember what had happened; they just wanted to move on, heads down and hoping the past would leave them alone.

"That's why we have to fight. To ensure that no one else dies saving a world that will only try to forget them. Cause that's the thing, no one cares about war until it affects them, and even then they always just move on and pretend they care on anniversaries when they don't give two shits about it the rest of the year. I mean, even we don't care about this war and we have to fight in it!" Alaska said, flailing her arms madly. "I don't want to have to save the day, but I hope we do, because the world doesn't need another Bertram or Leaf or Janine who has to live with something no one else cares about."

Alaska didn't know where that had come from, but as she said it, it felt good. She could imagine someone saying it in a movie – not a classy one, probably, but something she would've watched on a rainy afternoon when nothing else was on. With a weary grin at Sandy, she collapsed into the couch near the deck and sighed.

"The world couldn't handle another Bertram anyway. I don't think there is enough space on the Fuchsia coastline for two former-sex worker billionaire farmers."

Alaska looked at Sandy: it was the last thing she had expected her to say, and from the sly grin the blonde was struggling to keep off her face, she hadn't expected it either. She broke first, and Alaska followed. It was the first thing they had had to laugh at properly for what felt like weeks, and personally, Alaska was just glad to see Sandy smile and know it was genuine.

She wasn't sure how she was herself, but she couldn't deny that the more she considered things, the more she could see the other side of this insane situation. She still wasn't a happy or willing soldier, but the idea was growing on her – for now, at least.

"Ladies, we are about to dock at Seafoam." The driver's voice boomed from down the stairs of his cabin, making them jolt – they kept forgetting there was someone else on board, and it renewed their laughing fit. Despite their giggles, the two managed to stand up, and they looked at each other in the eye, not saying anything but not needing to either.

"Let's go see this frozen island wasteland then, shall we?"

"Well, we're here, aren't we?" Alaska linked arms with Sandy as they stepped towards the deck, where their Pokémon were beginning to stir.

From afar, Seafoam looked purely unremarkable. It resembled a giant boulder that had been pushed out of the ocean, one only made special by the presence of a god. Inside it was meant to be beautiful, yet you would simply sail past if you didn't know better. The plain, windswept island would have been a disappointment after the long haul getting there, if not for the other ship already waiting by the shore.

Alaska had known they would run into them again at some point, life was simply too cruel for anything else. Yet she hadn't thought it would happen so soon. Standing next to Sandy and their Pokémon at the front of the boat, it seemed like only yesterday since the last time they had seen Damian, Lachlan, Chloe and Amanda, and there they were, standing on the island's beach like old friends waiting for them to show up.

Though even before Alaska saw the excited glint in Amanda's eyes, the look of a hungry predator who had finally found her prey, she knew there was no chance of civility waiting for them on the shore. Alaska felt Sandy's hand grip tightly onto hers, and despite herself, she gripped back, well aware they had just sailed into a trap.