Chapter Eighty Nine: Nobody Will Oppose
The truth came to Sandy in a dream.
For what felt like infinity, images danced before her eyes. Some were old, some were new, some she recognised but many were unfamiliar. Her mother pushing her on a swing. Alaska fighting Janine. Robotic Pokémon rising from the ground. Metapod's shell cracking open. Onix bleeding from his eyes. Shadowy men pointing guns at her from the darkness. Alaska walking away from her down a glowing path. The sweaty grip of a stranger's hands on her shoulder. Sandy could not tell which were real and which were imagined, but the more she saw them, the clearer each image became as they slowly began to take shape. It wasn't a shape Sandy recognised, but a voice whispering from the darkest corners of her mind told her that was the point. She wanted longer to make sense of it, to look at her parents and her Pokémon and Alaska, but each time Sandy saw Onix and his bleeding eyes, the more real the memory of a shaking hand clutching her became, and the louder a second voice told her she was in danger.
I need to wake up.
Sandy was awake and alert within seconds. Her vision changed rapidly from nightmarish scenes of bleeding Pokémon to a dark, blank wall, but this had happened so often to her now that Sandy focused immediately. Blinking away the last echoes of the dreams that seemed burnt into her eyes, she began to take stock of where she was.
The first thing that struck her was how familiar it seemed. There as a huge television on one wall that reflected the plush carpet beneath her, which was replaced at the far end of the room by tiles, the walls there covered with cupboards and kitchen furnishings.
Sandy tensed as the memory came to her. My god, this is Bertram's boat. Was this another part of her dream, or had she become so delirious she had to started to imagine all the places she dreamt of being that weren't with Alaska?
A noise sounded next to her, something so dark and broken that Sandy knew it was not a part of her. The fear that she was trapped in her mind abated, but looking for the source caused a fresh terror to take over her thoughts.
Sandy struggled to silence her gasp as she laid her eyes on Lachlan. He was as pale as ice, the delicate whiteness of his skin broken only by a red gash of exposed flesh where his chin should be. Dried blood coated the front of his clothes, which look dampened by wide patches of sweat. If it wasn't for the noise Sandy would have thought he had died, and she shuddered to think how bad she must look.
"Lachlan, are you ok?" She whispered, startled by how hoarse she sounded. Lachlan made no response, and Sandy tried to lean towards him to see if he was alright. It was only then that she realised her hands were bound behind her back, metal handcuffs preventing her from moving them more than a centimetre apart.
That's not good. Sandy pulled at her shackles a few times before realising her breathing was becoming erratic. She stopped and tried to calm herself, focusing on how she got here rather than where she was. Her revival on Bertram's boat had stopped her thinking about how she had even gotten here, and she shut her eyes, focussing on all the images her mind had been turning over.
The fight in the ice cave, Onix being attacked by the Barbaracle, Sandy attempting to catch Alaska and Damian, then Chloe's hands were around her neck, and suddenly all had gone dark. And now she was here, chained up with nowhere to go. How and why this had happened she couldn't tell, but Sandy struggled to keep her thoughts from jumping to assumptions.
We aren't dead though. For a second, Sandy wondered when the fact she was still alive had become the high point of her day, but she brushed the thought aside. The important question was why had Amanda, when she had a gun and had been so intent on killing Alaska, bothered to take them alive?
Sandy wanted answers, but her need to escape was more urgent. Amanda may not want us dead yet, but that doesn't mean she won't hurt us. She had to get them both out of here before that happened, but she could see already that there were complications. She knew they were moving, she could feel the vibrations from the engine beneath her feet, but she had no idea where they were going. Sandy doubted she had been out longer than a few hours but there was no way of telling. The curtains were drawn, throwing the cabin in darkness that masked the outside world. They could be floating off the coast of Seafoam, but they could just as easily be in the middle of the ocean.
Sandy leant back and breathed slowly. There was no point getting worried about where she was just yet. She had to get herself free first and out of Amanda's clutches; then she could fret about the small task of getting back to shore. I started this journey lost and alone with no idea where I was going. Might as well go back to that.
Forcing herself calm, Sandy began to look around the cabin. Okay, escape, how do we do that. Thankfully they were alone. There were undoubtedly cameras watching them, but clearly Amanda didn't consider them enough of a threat to place a guard in the room. She won't think that once this boat is lying at the bottom of the ocean with her in it. Gosh, that's a little dark. Captivity makes me feral.
Pushing the dark thoughts aside, Sandy turned her attention to the handcuffs. She pulled at them and winced as the cold metal cut into her flesh again, but this time heard something rattle. She looked back and saw there was a chain looped around the middle of her handcuffs. It curved underneath the sofa, and Sandy pulled at it to see if it was secured anywhere. To her surprise, Lachlan's hands moved. She pulled again, harder this time, and watched Lachlan's arms slide closer to the sofa.
Sandy struggled not to groan. This made things more difficult. Lachlan seemed completely out to it, and she doubted he would be use even if he woke up in the next five minutes. Sandy didn't know how much he weighed but she doubted she would be able to lug his limp, unconscious body around, not with a thick chain tying them together.
This would be so much easier with Pokémon. In a moment of ridiculous hopefulness, Sandy gazed around the cabin again as if Butterfree or Weepinbell was sitting in the shadows waiting for her to notice them.
You're going mad. Sandy sighed and turned her attention back on the chains, but suddenly looked up again. She thought she had seen something vaguely familiar by the television. She shuffled towards it, struggling against Lachlan's weight, but the chain was long enough for her to edge half a metre closer. The dim light made it hard to see anything clearly, but Sandy would recognise that bag anywhere, even if it was normally out of her sight bouncing against her back.
Without a second thought Sandy lunged towards the cabinet. She barely made it a centimetre before the chains became taut, refusing to go any further. The resistance made Sandy slip backwards, landing sharply on her backbone, but she pushed herself back up and kept pulling. Her only chance of escape was just out of reach and Sandy wasn't going to sit back when her Poké Balls were right in front of her.
Don't give up. You can do this. The handcuffs were slicing her wrists, the metal digging into her flesh. Her feet were slipping, the carpet too thick to get a good grip. Sandy groaned, trying to push through the pain, push through the lack of gravity, trying to ignore the voice saying this was useless and she might as well give up now. There has to be a way.
Running low on options, she pushed one foot into the carpet and reached out with the other leg. Surprisingly, it nearly reached the cabinet. Sandy's heart skipped a beat, and she urged herself on, ignoring the pain, ignoring the voices, focusing on the freedom that was just out of reach. Nearly… nearly… NEARLY…
"What are you doing?"
In the silent cabin, the voice was like an explosion. With a startled yell, Sandy stumbled backwards, landing in a twisted heap. It was painful, but that faded when Sandy saw Chloe standing just metres away, hovering awkwardly by the same couch Alaska had occupied the other day. The room was too dark to make out her expression, but Sandy saw she was holding a hand to her chest while another hung limply by her side, both empty of weapons.
"Have you been sitting here this whole time?" Sandy's heart sank as Chloe's shadowed head nodded slowly in response. "Ah, right, well…"
"What are you doing?" Chloe repeated. Her voice was firm but nervous, like a child confronting a parent. "What's over there, what are you trying to reach?"
Sandy had only seconds to respond but she had to get this right. If Chloe had truly joined the dark side, there was no telling what she was capable of, but Sandy did not view her the same way Alaska did. She had seen the hesitation on Chloe's face when she had held the gun, and she could hear the nervousness in her voice now. She's not a murderer – not yet, anyway, let's try and keep it that way.
"I could ask you the same thing," Sandy snapped, channelling all her anger and disappointment into those seven syllables. "You're on a reality show one day and the next you are trying to murder people?"
Chloe looked affronted but quickly turned fiery. "Don't question me, you're the prisoner here! What are you trying to reach?"
"Did you just hear yourself? Prisoners? Lachlan's one of your cast mates, how can you do this to him?"
"I didn't do it, Amanda did," Chloe said, hesitating slightly. Her eyes flickered to the spiral staircase that led to the upper floor and suddenly the blonde was lunging forwards, finger pointed furiously in Sandy's face. "But that doesn't mean I can't be like her!"
Sandy kept her face blank, refusing to be threatened by the angry little girl looming over her. "This isn't you, Chloe. I may not know you very well, but this isn't you. You are not a murderer. I saw your face yesterday. You hated holding that gun. You hated threatening us. None of this is who you are. Please, you have to help us."
Chloe's finger lingered threateningly, but the forced anger on her face began to disappear. She looked nervous and afraid once again. "I can't let you go. There's nothing I can do."
"Yes there is!" Sandy shouted, her enthusiasm getting the better of her. Nearly there, nearly there. "You can free us, you can come with us. Help us get back to Alaska and you can be on the right side of this."
Chloe suddenly straightened up, her hand falling slack by her side. Sandy thought she had succeeded, but then she saw Chloe's cold, hate filled face, her eyes narrowed and her lips thin, and realised too late she'd said the wrong thing. Alaska… you had to go and mention Alaska…
"You're going to die soon. I hope you know it's all because that bitch made you think she actually cares about you."
Sandy lunged forwards, making Chloe jump backwards towards the stairs. It was a desperate and stupid move, but Sandy was too terrified to care. "You can't let us die!"
"Amanda!" Chloe screamed, throwing herself against a wall well out of Sandy's reach.
"Chloe, please, I'm begging you!"
"AMANDA!"
There was a whine and a flash and suddenly Sandy was flying backwards, white light burning into her eyes. She cried out as she crashed into the sofa, the padded edge not enough to soften the spine-juddering blow, and fell in a heap back on the floor. Her mind was so used to chaos and drama that she instantly thought it was an explosion, but she opened her eyes and was forced to squint, the flash coming from the fluorescent lights flickering loudly into life. Through her half closed lids, Sandy could see the light had cast a harsh white glare over everything, but there was no fiery destruction: the boat had hit a rough patch, causing everything to judder and bounce around as the entire cabin was rocked by the waves.
The distant sound of footsteps echoed down the staircase. Sandy pushed herself past the pain and used what little freedom she had in her hands to drag herself backwards. "Lachy, wake up!" She hissed, fondling about for his arm and trying to shake him. "You need to get up!"
A deep moan grumbled in response. "Wassa…"
"Lachlan, wake up, wake up now!" Sandy shook him as violently as she could, but Lachlan simply groaned incoherently. The footsteps were getting closer, and Sandy bit back a sob as she dropped Lachlan's arm and pulled her legs close, fear filling her heart for the first time. This is it, I'm done, I'm really done for.
"I see you're finally awake. I must say, I'm terribly relieved. I was starting to think you were actually dead."
Cautiously, Sandy raised her head. Her eyes were still adjusting to the light, but as she blinked the haze cleared and there was Amanda. She had stopped halfway down the stairs, clutching the handrail and looking down at everyone like some scornful mid-century heiress evaluating her underlings.
"Oh dear, you look so afraid." Amanda shook her head, her smiling widening. "Don't worry, I am not going to harm you – well, no more than I already have, anyway." Unleashing her clipped, robotic laugh, Amanda strutted proudly down the last few steps, the heavy echo of her leather boots against the wood lingering long after they had sunk into Bertram's lush carpet.
"I really should thank you girls for the upgrade," Amanda called as she strutted into the kitchen and flung open the fridge doors. "So much nicer than anything Buzz would ever be able to muster up. I would have dumped that bald arsehole years ago if I had known your side had such good connections." She laughed again, the whine of the fridge doing little to soften her cackle.
A small ball of hope rose up inside Sandy's stomach. 'You aren't with Buzz anymore?"
Amanda's sigh reverberated out of the fridge. "Of course not. I handed you two to him on a golden platter and he managed to stuff that up." She stepped back and closed the fridge door, a sandwich clutched tightly in her hands. "Had to bring my own food, so predictable. But that's men for you; never think about the small details, only their small little dicks," she cackled and began devouring her meal. "Anyway, why do you scream for me?"
"She was trying to get to her bag," Chloe whispered, pointing feebly towards the cabinet.
Amanda's eyes flickered between the bag and Sandy, her smile stretching even wider. "Ah, good, you fell for my little plan. I was going to throw it overboard, but I thought I'd wait until you were awake so I could see your little face squirm." She turned towards Chloe, smile thinning slightly. "I was hoping to watch her struggle a little longer, thanks for ruining that. What were you doing down here anyway?"
Chloe didn't say anything for a second, her gaze briefly landing on Sandy and Lachlan before falling on her shoes. "Nothing, just… just resting."
"Whatever," Amanda said with an exaggerated eye roll. "I don't have time for teenage dramatics anymore. That ship was sailed – literally!" She began cackling again at her own joke, bits of bread flying from her mouth. She strutted past Sandy and Lachlan but only had eyes got for the luxurious furnishings, her smile widening even as her laugh croakily petered out.
"No more reality show, no more bloody teenagers. I didn't think I'd be free of these shackles so soon. I should thank you, actually," Amanda said, tossing her head towards Sandy. "None of us would be here right now if you hadn't tried to make a woman out of Buzz." She paused, struggling to smirk and chew at the same time. "I laughed for hours when I heard he'd been injured, but even the mental image of his flaccid willy barely holding on soured after a while. To think he had fucked up yet again, that he had let you escape when I had busted my ass off delivering you two to him. I should have been angry, disappointed, enraged, but I am beyond those emotions. For Buzz, anyway. I still have my anger for Red and what they did to us, but when I pictured Buzz lying in a hospital bed, I knew I'd never find any solace if I stuck with him.
"So I've gone rogue, and here we all are." Amanda flung her arms wide and spun around. "Free. No cameras, no ridiculous plans, no fucking robot armies. God, it all seems so farcical looking back. That's what happens when you let men call the shots. No, what this world needs is a woman's touch, and that is exactly what I am going to give it."
Amanda stopped spinning and finally her eyes settled on Sandy again. They were gleaming with savage victory, the same maddening look she had worn during in the cave. Sandy refused to let her fear show, staring vacantly back at her captor, but inside she was terrified. They had only just gotten their heads around Buzz, they still had Gideon to crack, and now Amanda was making the situation even direr. There was no telling what she was thinking, what madness she was planning, and Sandy dreaded to think what role she would play if she carried on.
Their locked gaze was broken as the boat hit another wave. Amanda yelped as she stumbled to the side, barely stopping herself from falling. Watching her flail, a thought occurred to Sandy and she looked quickly towards her bag. Her eyes lingered on it only briefly, but enough to see that each wave that rocked the boat was pushing it closer and closer towards the edge.
There would be only a few seconds gap between it falling and Sandy being able to reach it, and she couldn't let Amanda get in the way. Thinking back to the cave and how easily she had distracted the producer, she knew vanity was the only thing that could save her now.
"What is the point of carrying on?" She said quickly before the words had even gone through her head. "You can change your plans or whatever, but everyone knows about you. They are ready for you. Do you seriously think you can get away with any of this?"
She expected Amanda to laugh or belittle her, but the producer merely raised an eyebrow and sighed wearily. "Oh, you silly little girl. A few days with Leaf and Janine and you've bought all their lies already? I thought you girls were smarter. Guess it just shows how dumb Buzz really was." Amanda moved towards the couch and sank down, rubbing a drop of mayo from her chin before carrying on.
"You say they are prepared for me? Of course they are. The whole world spends years preparing for wars they don't want to happen. It's easy to prepare for something, to say you will do things differently next time, but when it comes time to stop people like me, your elites prefer to just tell people off and display their authority rather than test it on the battlefield.
"Take your new friends for example. Do you think Red or Leaf or Janine want to invade Saffron and go to war with an army of robots in the centre of the region's business district? Their gods could enact justice and destroy Buzz fairly quickly, but what else would they destroy in the process: the city, the economy, their reputations? No, war is far too messy for everyone involved. Fear of consequences stops them from doing what is easy and sensible. I guess they sent you two to find Blaine? Do you think that's because they desperately need some old recluse to join this fight or because they want to keep your friend out of the way so they can try and stop that prophecy coming true?
"So to answer your question: yes, I expect I will get away with this. They will track us down. They are probably already after us, but that's why I am taking us to the middle of the Sevii Islands where this all started seventeen years ago. Red and Leaf and all their little friends might just hesitate before unleashing divine justice down in the place where thousands of people died, and that hesitation is what I need – well, what we need."
Amanda's eyes turned towards Chloe. The blonde looked away awkwardly, but Amanda, after shoving the last of her sandwich in her mouth, leapt up and grabbed Chloe's arm in one swift movement. "I wouldn't be here without you. You were just what I needed for me to break away from Buzz, so thank you for doing everything I asked.
Chloe smiled briefly but her eyes were locked on the floor. "You didn't tell me we'd be using guns."
"Pardon me?" Amanda asked crisply, her face suddenly a masterpiece of condensation. Sandy saw her hold on Chloe's arm tighten, making the girl shudder. "And how did you think we were going to capture her?"
Chloe shrugged at the carpet. "Pokémon?"
Amanda's laugh was explosive inside the confined cabin. "Oh yes, cause that has worked out so brilliantly in the past. Weaponry is the only area where we can outgun these people, and I am willing to use whatever is necessary to end this. I didn't think this would be a problem with you…"
Chloe looked up, suddenly fearful. "Oh no, it's not, I just –"
"Good. We have dawdled enough with this whole project; I am not letting something as insignificant as a conscience get in the way." Amanda grabbed Chloe by the face. It was an action that would see comforting from anyone else, but with Amanda's clenched hands and tight smile she looked like she was about to snap the girl's neck. "Alaska has ruined your life the same way Red and Leaf ruined mine. Now it's time to make them all suffer the same way we have. Starting with them."
The two turned towards Sandy, their faces reflecting each other's malevolent smiles, and with that look, she finally got her answer. The only reason Amanda had left her alive was so she could get as much pleasure out of her death as possible. I thought I'd wait until you were awake so I could see your little face squirm
Frantically Sandy gripped Lachlan's arm with all her might. He moaned and shifted so she gripped tighter, refusing to look away from Amanda while she watched her like cornered prey. I am not dying here, not now, not on this boat. I am not some helpless girl you can shove in the fridge. My death has to mean something… my life has to mean something. Wake up Lachlan, wake the fuck up!
"You're hurting me." Lachlan's voice was weak and quiet, a whisper audible only in the cabin, but it was enough for Sandy to laugh with pained relief.
Amanda's eyes narrowed. "And what exactly is so –"
She never finished her sentence. She and Chloe cried out as the boat hit another wave, one huge enough that all four of them were lifted into the air. The producer and her star landed and stumbled backwards at the same time as a thud resounded throughout the room.
Sandy turned and without a moment's pause threw herself towards her bag: the chains became taut, pulling her body backwards and throwing her legs forwards, but that was just what Sandy needed. Her foot went through a strap and she yanked it backwards, twisting her body so her bag fell between her and Lachlan.
Her fellow prisoner looked up as Sandy began rummaging through her pockets. "What's happening? Where am I?"
"Your producer kidnapped us and she is going to kill us if I can't get us out of here and off this boat within the next few minutes."
"Oh… that's different…"
"Not for me," Sandy said without irony. She kept one eye on Amanda, who was trying to disentangle herself from Chloe, while her hands worked their way into her bag and clasped on to the first Poké Balls she could find.
"You thought you had us captured, eh?" Sandy yelled, taking pleasure in the fearful look that descended on Amanda. "Well, looks like you're the ones who are about to suffer MOTHER FUCKERS!" And she flung the balls as far as she could manage, grinning determinedly as red and yellow flashes drowned out the fluorescent light.
It was only when the light had faded and the energy took form that Sandy realised she had no idea who she had sent out. She had six Pokémon, four of whom could end this fight in under a minute, but fate was not that kind to Sandy. She tried to maintain her vigour, but struggled to mask her disappointment as she finally laid eyes on Pichu and Goomy. The Dragon looked confused, her normal happy smile droopy and worried.
Unfortunately, her feelings weren't her own. "Chu?" Pichu mumbled, wide and confused eyes moving frantically and frightfully around the room. He looked to Sandy for comfort but saw the chains and began to quiver.
"Don't cry, don't cry!" Everything dark and depressing about her situation went to the back of Sandy's mind in the face of her crying Pokémon. She leant forward to comfort him, but her fall had left her legs entangled by the chains. Sandy cursed and tried to pull herself free, but the sight of her struggling only made Pichu whimper further.
Laughter erupted behind her. "Suffer? SUFFER?" Amanda snorted. "Fuck me, and here I was thinking I'd have to be careful with you. I guess Alaska was the only thing keeping you alive."
Bitterness rising up her throat, Sandy ignored the jibe and moved to free her legs. She shifted her weight and pushed the chains until they became loose, allowing them to fall away from her legs. She sat triumphantly, angry and determined, just in time to watch Amanda bend down and grab hold of Pichu.
"CHU!"
"LET HIM GO!"
Amanda simply smiled as walked towards the doors to the deck. "Don't worry, I will let him go. I make no promises as to where." She threw open the curtain, revealing an ocean of pitch blackness behind, and gripped onto the door handle.
"YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" Sandy yelled, her voice competing against the roar of the wind and the crashing waves that sounded the second the door was open. She leapt to her feet but crashed down again, the heave of the ocean unbalancing her. She could only look at Pichu's crying face, unable to hear anything: the wind had created a wall between them, Pichu and Amanda silenced by the ocean, but their contorted faces spoke volumes.
With Lachlan barely awake and Goomy clueless to help, Sandy turned desperately to Chloe. "DO SOMETHING!" She yelled, but Chloe remained static, her face blank.
"I did say I wanted to see your face," a barely audible Amanda yelled. "I lost everything in these oceans. Trust me when I say this barely even compares." And she turned around so only Pichu's tear-streaked face was visible, bright yellow against the darkness of his grave.
Sandy forced herself up and lunged again, pulling against the tautness of the chains but falling short, blood dripping down the back of her legs. Your hands are tied, literally. There is nothing you can do. If you keep fighting, it will only make the pain worse. You might as well give up and accept what happens.
Was this what her journey had come to? She left home with dreams of a better life, and instead she was about to die in chains on a boat owned by a millionaire former prostitute. It seemed so ridiculous, so unbelievable, that if it was fiction Sandy would have laughed. Instead she felt nothing.
This was meant to be, after all. Why feel bad about it? Everything that had happened to her, every horrible thing, it had all been written down and planned probably thousands of years before she was born. Dying here was part of her destiny. Would this motivate Alaska as she rode Paige into the final battle, she wondered as she watched Pichu struggle. Had she been born purely to die here tonight?
No. Sandy stopped crying, her body quivering with anger. She glowered at Amanda with a feeling of contempt she had never felt before, and smirked as the producer looked back and paused, fear slowly crossing her face. Stop feeling sorry for yourself. Stop thinking about prophecies and death. You didn't know you were destined to meet Alaska. You didn't know you were destined to be here tonight. And you don't know where it will take you tomorrow. You still have a choice in how you live your life. Your hands may be tied, but your feet aren't. And that was when she knew what she had to do.
"HI-YAH!" Sandy screamed, and she leapt forwards. Amanda's eyes widened, her grip on Pichu slackening, and merely watched in horror as Sandy ran as far as the chains allowed her and kicked out.
Sandy had no idea if it hurt being kicked in the vagina. She had never seen it happen to anyone, not in real life or on television. However, faced with only her legs and a short tether to work with, shoving her foot firmly into Amanda's genitals was all she had to work with.
Thankfully, it paid off. Amanda groaned, doubling over and reaching instinctively towards her groin with her free hand. Sandy didn't bask in the success, instead aiming her foot there again before kicking at both knees. Amanda buckled under the pressure, her jaw close enough that Sandy could raise her right knee to meet it.
"No one fucks with my Pokémon and gets away with it, bitch!" She hissed, and as a finishing touch, she spat. Maybe that's a bit much, she thought, but couldn't help but smile at the thick white gob dripping down Amanda's unconscious face.
"Chu!" A tiny cry erupted beneath her feet, and Pichu leapt up into Sandy's confined hands, gripping tightly onto her fingers with his own tiny hands.
Sandy wanted to bask in the embrace but knew she couldn't stop for emotion. While she was still standing still, stunned by the changing circumstances, Sandy knew Chloe wouldn't be an idle threat for long. "I'll hug you once I'm free of these," she told Pichu before looking at Goomy. "DragonBreath!" She barked, pointing with her tied hands towards Lachlan's chains.
Goomy jumped at the harshness of her tone and responded quickly, unleashing a thin stream of golden fire at the handcuffs.
It took less than a minute before the chain linking both restraints together melted, but then Lachlan quickly pushed himself to his feet. "What the hell is happening?" He said as he struggled to steady himself.
"We're getting out of here alive, what do you think?" Sandy positioned herself closer to Goomy, ignoring the pain as the hot metal scalded her skin. "Grab your bag and send Wartortle out."
"Are you expecting us to swim all the way to shore?" Lachlan said indignantly, wobbling towards his bag.
"We aren't staying here," Sandy retorted. "Unless boat piloting skills is on your resume, we don't have any choice." She moaned with relief as she brought her hands around, still wearing metal but no longer trapped behind her. She stretched her arms and her wrists before pulling Pichu in close. "Thank you for being brave," she whispered, and the Electric type cooed in her hands.
"You aren't getting away."
Lachlan and Wartortle leapt to Sandy's side before Chloe had finished speaking, but Sandy wasn't afraid. Her rival blonde stood at the mouth of the kitchen, Poké Ball in one hand and the knife in the other, wearing a look of pure rage that didn't stop her hands from shaking.
"Chloe, you don't have to follow Amanda. We can put this all behind us, I am happy to pretend this never happened."
"What, come with you and let Alaska take all the glory?" Chloe spat. "She killed my one shot to get out of that town forever. I will never be on her side."
Sandy shook her head. "Suit yourself," she sighed, and turned to Lachlan. "Surf."
"What?"
"You heard me, Surf. Get Wartortle to flip the boat."
Lachlan's eyes bulged. "Are you mad?"
"Probably. If we do nothing, they come right after us. If we sink it, we get away and we give everyone a chance to survive."
"You're mad," Lachlan repeated. "This is mad. I don't think Wartortle knows Surf."
"Give it a crack," Sandy said with more urgency as Chloe stepped forwards. "No time like the present, eh?"
"We might die!"
"We'll die anyway!" Sandy shrieked as Chloe started to power walk. "Use Surf!"
"Sandy, I don't like –"
"Surf, now!"
"Sandy!"
"SURF!"
"CHUUUUU!"
The whole boat started to shake. Sandy, Lachlan and Chloe froze, but their eyes moved down to Sandy's midriff where Pichu was still clutched in her hand: his tiny body was vibrating, his eyes shining an electric blue that glowed with power, and his little arms were slowly rising up in a curving wave formation.
Sandy had no time to be impressed. "Hold me," she yelped and dived to the ground, shoving her free hand into Goomy's mouth. "Gooey, now!"
"PICHU CHU!" Pichu yelled with childish exuberance. He thrust his arms forwards, and the boat went with him.
Everything happened in slow motion. Sandy, Lachlan, Chloe and Wartortle all screamed as they were lifted into the air, but their shouts were deafened by the booming thud as the Pichu-created wave crashed into the boat. It hit with such force the vessel was launched into the air, rising so fast that Sandy felt gravity resisting their ascent.
But what goes up must come down. Chloe let out an explosive shriek as the boat began to drop nose-first. She was thrown into the back wall by the fridge, Amanda's limp body and the cabinet following suit. Sandy, with Lachlan clutching tightly to her bag, were pulled that way and she felt Goomy's slippery lips suck tight to stop them following.
The boat tipped forwards the further it fell, slowly tilting so the roof was above the water. Sandy gulped as she was weightlessly lifted up before heavily starting to fall towards the ceiling. She looked into Goomy's tiny eyes as the Dragon began to stretch like a huge blob of slime, struggling to hold their weight.
"Hold on a few more seconds!" Sandy looked to the deck door, the pitch black ocean calling out to her. The boat was still tipping into a full-on somersault; it felt like slow motion yet she could see the water rushing to greet them, and it pulled them towards it.
"Another second, hold on!" Sandy yelled as they stretched to the right, everything falling towards them now. Her eyes were on the couch, watching as it slid quickly towards the door. "Another second, nearly there!"
"Gooooo!"
"One more second!"
"Sandy, do you have a fucking plan or –"
"NOW!"
With a wet sucking noise Goomy let go, and they all screamed as they hurtled towards the couch. The five of them hit it at once, forcing it through the door and into the open air. A burst of wind and sea air greeted them, but all eyes were on the much heavier boat above them that was falling much faster than they had realised.
"Aqua Jet?" Sandy screamed hopefully.
"AQUA JET!" Lachlan bellowed, and was answered with the pounding roar of two water columns being fired out of Wartortle's shell.
Even as the attack pushed them to safety, Sandy didn't take her eyes off the boat until she was certain it wasn't still chasing them. They passed out of its shadow and into the moonlight, and rode the waves generated by the impact of it crashing. Sandy watched even as the white hull disappeared both into the distance and beneath the surface. Sandy kept watching long after they had left it behind, and eventually she began to smile.
"I can't believe we did it."
"Did what?" Lachlan called from the end of the couch.
"Escaped," Sandy said, tipping her head back so her hair skimmed along the water, her eyes locked on the moon. "I thought that was the end…"
Lachlan huffed, a sound that carried across the ocean. "It nearly was, thanks to you. Honestly, you and Alaska are as bad as each other."
Sandy didn't reply, losing herself in thought. What did happen to Alaska? Did she escape? Do I even care? Of course I do, why would you even think that? Sandy looked at her Pokémon, hoping to find some normality in them. Goomy felt her eyes on her and turned, throwing her a droopy smile. Pichu, however, leapt towards Sandy, his face a picture of glee.
"Well, weren't you just a little bit brilliant?" Sandy said, smiling into his little face. "I had no idea he could do that. You're brilliant, did you know that?"
"Chu Chu!" Pichu squeaked, pink cheeks sparking with glee. And then, without warning his body began to glow a dazzling white. The inky ocean that surrounded them was suddenly illuminated, the burst of light bright enough to reveal a school of Magikarp beneath the surface. Sandy gasped and put Pichu back on the couch, Goomy and Lachlan moving to the opposite end as his body began to grow.
This can't be happening, this must be a dream, this must be… Sandy's thoughts trialled off, and suddenly she was laughing. None of this had been expected, and she had taken a horrible path to get here, but nothing here felt wrong. She hadn't known what shape her thoughts had been trying to take in her dream, but looking back, a luxury chaise lounge seemed exactly what she had imagined, and she knew it was exactly where she needed to be, destiny be damned.
"I'm on a couch in the middle of an ocean with a mad woman." Lachlan shook his head and groaned. "Where the hell are we going next?"
Sandy shrugged, briefly taking her eyes off her new Pokémon and throwing him a wink. "Who knows? I guess we'll have to be surprised, won't we?"
