Chapter Ninety Five: No Dark Sarcasm
Over the last few months, Sandy had noticed there was a difference between falling asleep and being knocked out. She hadn't spoken with Alaska about it, but in her mind where she compartmentalised and processed everything that happened to her, she had dwelled on it often.
It had occurred to her that sleep was rather like a computer powering down; her brain slowly turned itself off, and eight hours later gently turned back on. Whereas every time she had been knocked out, the shutdown had been forced, like a switch being turned off and then turned back on, and suddenly she was expected to resume her previous state.
It wasn't something she thought she'd ever experience, but as consciousness suddenly returned to her, she found herself dwelling on it again. Sights, sounds, smells; the second Sandy jolted forwards gasping for air, a tsunami of sensations surrounded her on all sides.
The one thing that stood out above it all was the light. Sandy shut her eyes the second she opened them, already blinded by the blazing light shining directly in her face. She next felt the uncomfortable, prickling pain on her cheeks as though something was burning her. Sandy tried to turn away but spasms shot up her stiff neck at the mere thought of it.
Groggily, Sandy tried to stand but was held in place by her arms. She tried pulling her hands apart but hard metal cut into her wrists. Sandy winced and let her body go slack, but the pole she was bound to was wide enough that she was bent tightly around it, her back in such pain it was a miracle she had not woken earlier.
What the hell happened? Sandy sank as low as she could and breathed out. There was no point freaking out, she had expected something like this would happen. Her memories were scattered, but she could recall standing in the field, bargaining for Onix and Lachlan's lives with her own. With each passing second, more of the last few days returned to her, but Sandy was in no state to go over every doubt and anxiety again.
She turned her focus back on her surroundings. There was the musk of damp in the air, a scent that seemed to permeate every fibre of the room. Sandy wondered if this was a cave, but the smell was more like sodden carpet after the rain had got in.
Fuelled by curiosity, Sandy opened her eyes. Her brain had focused enough that the light was not blinding now, though she still had to squint to make out its source. What had looked like a spotlight was actually a hole in the ceiling letting the sun pour in. Sandy struggled to focus, but she was certain she could see drooping wires fringing the edges of the hole.
Surprised, she turned her gaze to the rest of her cell. The walls were plain and windowless, clearly meant to be white but now darkened by mildew. The floor was a similar colour, but the damp smell came from what seemed to be grass spread out in neat rectangles like football pitches across the spacious floor.
It's an office building, Sandy thought, more confused than ever. It was the last place she had expected Amanda to take her. She doubted it was the Silph building, but Amanda and Buzz could have prepared any number of hideouts in case of emergency. Sandy sniffed again, sifting through the damp, and found what she was looking for; sea air. We're still in Sevii, she concluded, though which of the many islands and atolls, there was no way of knowing.
"Oh, you're awake, are you?"
Sandy jolted. She had assumed she was alone. She tried to crane her neck towards the distant voice but her body remained unresponsive. Instead, Sandy had to sit there and listen to the sound of Amanda's footsteps squelching through the damp turf towards her.
"I imagine this has become a recurring habit for you. Do you remember the last time you slept on a normal bed?"
Amanda's laugh, high and taut as always, echoed ominously through the bare room. Sandy said nothing in response, staring passively forward as she waited for the inevitable. Her silence seemed to work though; when Amanda appeared suddenly before her, face shadowed as she stepped in front of the light, she was eerily, unsettlingly silent.
What happened to her? Sandy could remember the producer she'd first met months ago; tight-lipped, short fused, clipped and repressed. Had Amanda been masking this evil side the whole time, or was she as much a victim in all this as Alaska was? The fact she had not killed Sandy yet was a warming sign, but there was no way to tell how serious and how unhinged she had become.
"Your friend was here earlier," Amanda said coldly. "She was camped out on the island across the strait last night. I thought about dragging your corpse over there, but she's left already. Must have got bored waiting for you."
She spoke so measuredly it was hard to gauge any emotion in what she said. Yet Sandy knew she wasn't lying. There was no point in making that up; Alaska had been here, she was searching for Sandy, but had gone to look elsewhere. Somehow that revelation was more devastating than anything this dark, damp room had presented so far.
"Don't worry, she'll come back eventually. What state you will be in at that point, well, we're less certain of that." Amanda smiled viciously on that note, and even in the dark her flawless teeth stood out, an apex predator letting their prey know they were coming.
Sandy said nothing. She did her best to keep her face passive, even though, internally, she was quivering with fear. She had hoped that, by leaving Lachlan behind, he would be able to contact someone to help her. Undoubtedly he would have, but if Alaska had left the area, who else was there to find her? Sandy did not want to give Amanda more credit than she deserved, but she had no idea where they were or how close potential help could be, and after last time, there was no chance Sandy would be able to escape again.
As if reading her mind, Amanda leant forwards. "You're probably wondering how I survived, aren't you?"
"Didn't you mention that last time? Really, I couldn't care less."
Despite the cavernous space, the slap echoed with the force of a gunshot. Sandy couldn't help but gasp, sharp pain reverberating through the right side of her head. Her ear began to ring and her head pounded with fresh suffering.
"Talk back again and I cut out your tongue," Amanda hissed. She lingered, her face only centimetres from Sandy's, her hot, stale breath betraying her structured composure. She stayed that way for a minute before straightening up and walking around the pole.
"Next time you plan on leaving people to drown, you should make sure they are all unconscious. Chloe's Vaporeon pulled us out using Dive, and her Fearow flew us to the nearest atoll. It was barely wide enough to build an outhouse on, but it sufficed, and by morning I was awake and ready to get my revenge."
A hand shot out from behind the pole, and Sandy bit her lips as Amanda pulled her head back sharply. The metallic thud echoed, and when Sandy opened her eyes everything was swaying, the streams of sunlight blurring into one another with such a dizzying effect she felt ill.
"I should drag you by your hair and throw you out the window for what you tried to do to me," Amanda shouted. "The only reason I haven't is because you've ruined our plans enough already. I am not going to give you the satisfaction of a quick death.
"Instead, I am going to set up a camera right in front of you. I am going to film you begging for your life and pleading for Alaska to come rescue you. I will use my contacts to ensure the whole world watches your final moments. Alaska will come for you immediately, too reckless to think any better, but the second she steps through these walls, I will bring this whole building down on top of you. End this whole thing right where it all began." Amanda spoke quickly and sharply, her voice occasionally quivering with brief moments of manic glee.
She's treating this like a production, Sandy thought. She wants to produce every moment of my death. The thought was disturbing, and Sandy knew she had to keep her enemy talking. "What do you mean, end this where it began?"
Surprisingly, Amanda fell silent. She let go of Sandy's head and got back to her feet, walking slowly back into view. Sandy still couldn't see straight, but when Amanda stepped into the light, staring up at the pockmarked ceiling, there was something sad and wistful in her eyes.
"You are probably too young to remember all that happened. Were you even alive?" Amanda pondered, more to herself than to Sandy. "This tower used to be where Team Rocket was based, back in the nineties. Of course, it's been sixteen years since your precious league buddies tore it down and built this monstrosity in its place. Trainer Tower, did you ever see the ads?"
Sandy nodded. She had a vague recollection of a shining building lit up with purple lights, and happy, cheering teenagers running towards a tall, slick-haired man. Casimer, was that his name?
"Well, Giovanni got his revenge. The top half of the building is missing," Amanda said, pointing towards the nearest hole. "There should be about eight more floors above us, but instead there are just five years of Wingull crap coating the floor. It's exactly what this place deserved, and it's going to be the perfect tomb for the pair of you."
Sandy said nothing. What was there for her to say? She was an unarmed prisoner, trapped in some decrepit skyscraper was no obvious means of escape. It pained her to admit it, but without the hope of Alaska to rescue her, there was nothing for her to do. Is this what my prophecy is? Does my death lead to Alaska's? Is that what this has all been for, to turn us into martyrs, to make everyone else join the fight? The thought left an acidic taste on her tongue. Sandy leant back into the pole and stared at the sunlight. Listen, gods, I haven't asked a lot of you during all this, but if my life has to be tied to hers, you better have a lot more in mind than this, alright? So rewrite your plans or something, because you aren't killing me this easily!
"Ma'am, we've tracked down Alaska."
Amanda turned towards the voice, her eyes alert and mouth tight once again. "Yes, and?" she barked. Sandy leant to the side, trying to see the speaker, but he was staying well in the shadows, clearly afraid of getting closer. Tutting, Amanda stomped her way towards him. She said nothing, but Sandy could hear a faint tapping, like a finger rapping against a touchscreen, that was quickly drowned out by a brief burst of noise before the video was muted.
That sounded like screaming, and gunfire, Sandy thought, well accustomed to the two. She paused, waiting for more to come from Amanda, but for over a minute there was nothing by silence. Until –
"FUCK!" Amanda's scream seemed to shake the roof, the dangling wires jiggling with her rage. There was the sound of something shattering, and then Amanda's voice returned, fainter as she moved towards the back of the floor. "Secure the roof and the ground floor, get eyes in the air watching for them coming."
"What about the girl?"
"Leave her. She'll die anyway if we don't secure the building. I want the explosives unloaded and the bottom three floors rigged now!"
Amanda's voice grew faint until it was only a faint echo before fading away entirely. Mercifully, Sandy was alone again. She had been struggling to keep her eyes open all through this and was happy to slip away into something closer to sleep. Even as the darkness began to return, Sandy had to smile. She was bound and gagged, alone and injured, but somewhere out there, Alaska was still fighting back, and that was all the hope she needed.
In only a few minutes, the world had turned to hell.
Damian had no idea what was going on. Smoke had already engulfed the school, swallowing the upper levels and blotting out the sun. It was impossible to elude; his eyes and throat burnt, and breathing was becoming increasingly difficult. He could feel the heat on all sides, penetrating every inch of exposed skin.
Yet he had no idea what was happening around him. The last thing Damian had seen clearly were three Hariyama descending from the sky, flames circling their rocket-booster legs. He had started running then and hadn't stopped.
Another explosion sounded in the distance. How many had that been in the last few minutes? He had already lost count. Curiosity got the better of him and he looked back, only to see a Mamoswine was charging towards him; half of its fur was on fire, and a broken tusk revealed an array of wires. Damian froze, unsure how he was going to get away from it, simply tensing up and waiting to be bowled over.
"PRIIII!" A shriek cut through the haze. Damian opened his eyes and saw the Mamoswine on its side, Darwin smashing its head open with something like a park bench. Damian watched until the Primeape was done and leapt away, and only then realised he was crying.
Keep running, he told himself, and his legs obeyed, even if they didn't know where they were going. The school walls had disappeared, only a smudged blur masked by the smoke. Damian thought he was running towards the car park, but now he had no idea. He was probably running in circles.
Something green illuminated the world to his right. Damian turned, watching the pulsating Solarbeam cut through the haze. He wasn't sure what it had hit or why, but when it cut out, returning the world to its gloom, he saw freedom. A wall, only a few metres away and already being consumed by smoke again.
Without thinking, Damian ran towards it. He had no idea if any robots were following him, but he knew he could outrun them. He had always been a good runner. Won plenty of medals at school. Damian could remember telling Amanda that during one of his last auditions, and the thought made him shiver. This is fucking insane.
He reached the wall and leapt over it. His foot caught a loose brick as he landed, and Damian swore as he tumbled over and crashed to the ground. Something hard hit him right in the spine. He wanted to scream but knew better. Instead, he muffled his whimpers and dragged himself towards the wall, peering over the jagged gap to survey the scene he'd left behind.
Yet even from this angle, he couldn't see anything. Only the brown smog smothering the entire courtyard, rising up to join the thicker smog pouring out from the school building. Damian had no long how much time had passed, but it felt like mere minutes. He had lost track of Alaska; he had last seen her fighting a Kingler while Nadia finished off the Poliwrath. Was she even still alive?
The thought filled Damian with dread. His Pokémon were still out there, and here he was, hiding in a classroom and leaving them to fight. He looked around for any weapons, as though that was what he was doing, only to spy the twisted remains of a plastic chair resting atop a heap of shattered brick. This is a classroom. This is a school. They are attacking a fucking school.
A roar reverberated through the air. Damian jumped even though he knew it was Charizard; he looked up and could see the flaming tail move through the smoke, chunks of black and blue metal falling in its wake. As his Pokémon disappeared, the gunfire picked up again, joined by a second, deeper roar and the shaking of the earth.
Damian whimpered involuntarily and sank deeper behind the wall. He knew he should feel guilty about hiding here, but he didn't. What could he do against all of those things out there? He wasn't armed like Alaska. He couldn't fight them off. Damian had barely gone near any of them but he was bleeding from three different places; if he went back out there, he knew he'd be dead.
"What am I even doing here?" he whispered. For the first time since the cameras had started rolling, Damian wanted to go home. He wanted to give up everything and run back to Pallet Town and pretend this had never happened, go back to school and study math and get a job and marry someone and grow old and die in his eighties rather than lying on a decimated classroom floor hiding from robots.
"This seat taken?"
The three words hit Damian like a gunshot. With a stifled yelp, he lunged for the nearest brick and swung it towards the voice. Yet before he could make contact, a spasm shot up his spine, and Damian winced as the brick fell from his hands.
"Fuck man, you look terrible."
The newcomer sat down next to him. Damian looked up through his watering, dust filled eyes and realised it was Edward. The older boy's face shone with sweat, mixing with the blood oozing from a cut across his right cheek, but as he stared into Damian's eyes, he was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen.
"I'm fine, I think," Damian whispered, though he could barely hear anything above the ringing in his ears. "Sorry for lunging, I'm just… spooked."
"Really? I can't possibly fathom why." Edward smirked at his own joke as he sank low against the wall, sighing. "I think this is my biology classroom," he murmured, gazing around the smoke-filled room.
Damian's eyes followed him, but he couldn't make out much through the haze. What he could see was destroyed beyond function; twisted metal legs that could have been from a chair, half a wooden slab that was either a door or a table, all buried beneath a layer of dust and glass blown across the room. All this damage in about five minutes.
"I don't want to go back out there." Damian heard the words and knew they had come from his mouth, but he couldn't piece the two together. He never thought he would say something like that in a voice so high and fearful, but, he supposed, he never thought he would be here in the first place.
Edward didn't seem to notice, his eyes still moving around the classroom. "I don't blame you. You lasted longer than I did. I got through the first two explosions, but once the fucking Salamence showed up, I was done. There's some saying I think about dying on your feet, but fuck that, man. I am not getting incinerated by a flying robot dragon."
Damian smirked. He may be a coward, but at least he wasn't alone.
"Besides, Alaska seems to have things under control. She's not dead yet at least, anyway." Edward's face slackened as he spoke. "Oh god, did I really just say that about my sister?"
"Yes, you did."
He shook his head, sighing. "Fuck. I really am horrible, aren't I?"
"Not at all." Damian did not dare to look over the wall, but he could imagine Alaska out there, flailing that giant gun around and barking commands at all the Pokémon above the chaos. He could remember how she had held everything together back at Seafoam and knew she was the only thing still keeping him alive.
"So, how exactly did you end up here?"
Damian stared incredulously at Edward. "Really? You want my life story?" he spluttered, barely able to hear himself as something exploded metres away.
"Why not?" Edward said, ducking below as a fresh heat wave crested over their feeble protection. "Would you rather sit here and pray for mercy?"
"Why not? I mean, isn't this a religious school?"
"Honey, please. Half the school is on fire and there are robots shooting at us. Arceus sure as hell didn't make those, and he ain't going to save us now." Edward raised an eye and cast a contemptable look over Damian. "Don't tell me you're some religious nut."
"No!" Damian squawked defensively. Coward, yes. Religious, fuck off!
"Well then, what are you?"
Damian tutted and looked away. "I really don't want to talk about it."
"Look, man," Edward said, gripping onto Damian's shoulder. "We are fucked. There's no two ways about it. We either go back out there and try to find a way to freedom before we get killed, or we sit here and wait for someone to save us. I know which option I prefer, but I'm not sitting here in silence while my mind races trying to process all of this. I think that might just drive me mad, so if we're sitting here, you are going to tell me about your life and neither of us is going to think about what's going on, okay?"
Damian said nothing. He stared back over the wall, watching some distant explosion blow through the smoke. It seemed to move silently, which seemed strange to Damian, but maybe he had lost all sense of perception stuck in the middle of all this. He turned back to Edward, focusing on the hand gripping his shoulder, and he sighed.
"I'm from Pallet Town, I don't think we even have a church there. Maybe a shrine or something."
"Ah, so you're a small town boy, eh? That explains the reality show."
Damian bristled immediately. "And what is that supposed to mean?"
"Well, you know… stuck in a small town, everyone knows who you are, everyone has you boxed in. You have to go out there and prove yourself, show everyone back home who you really are. Am I warm?"
"For someone lying next to a raging fire, you're pretty fucking cold," Damian said icily.
Edward raised his hands apologetically. "Well, what's the truth then?"
Damian bit his lip and pondered. He hadn't even told Alaska the truth, so why did her brother deserve to know? Yet at that moment, he felt the ground shudder behind them, and Damian turned to see Paige and his Gyarados forcing a swarm of flying robots to the ground. Fuck it, he thought, heart racing.
"It was the opposite, really. Well, kind of. Obviously, everyone knew me, that's basically a given. And I was boxed in, but not in a small town way. It was fear. After Red and all that happened, no one was keen for their children to go down the same path. People were pushing us to be something else, anything else that wasn't going on a journey.
"For me, I have always been a good runner. The best, really. Good enough that people thought I could do it professionally. Go into races and all that. And I did enjoy it for a little while, going to regional championships and that. But over the past year, it just… it stopped being fun."
A distant shout caught Edward's attention, allowing Damian to pause and take a breath. If he shut his eyes, he knew he'd be back in that changing room, surrounded on all sides by everyone laughing at him. But only Jack, Jack staring him right in the eye, only that would hurt.
"Everyone thought I should keep doing it, but I refused. I wasn't doing that any longer. Things became awkward, after that. My school stopped paying me any attention. My parents were disappointed with me. Only child, and they thought I'd be some international star. Well, I could be. I'm not boasting here, I really could be. But…"
Damian coughed, whether from shame or ash he wasn't sure. "When the reality show came up, things became really awkward. There were heaps of arguments at first, but when I said I had applied anyway, that was it. My father barely spoke to me. My mum did, because, you know, mums, but she cried a lot when we were alone together. Thought I was throwing my life away, that I was committing to something too young that I'd live to regret. But I had to leave. I had to do something to get away, and this seemed like the best option. I guess they were right to be worried, but I'd rather be here than back home, living that… lie, I guess."
Edward had stopped looking at the chaos. Damian could feel his eyes boring into him, and he turned to meet the gaze. Gunfire and explosions reverberated through the air, but both went ignored as the two sat in a still, heavy silence.
"Why do you hang with Alaska?" Edward asked quietly after a minute. "I mean, she seems to attract all this chaos wherever she goes."
"She does, but… she's just confident, I guess. She doesn't care what anyone thinks or what they tell her to do. She just goes out there and does what she wants without fear. I kind of hate her at times – well, before all this, I pretty much hated her entirely. But watching her over the last few days… I envy how she is still standing even after everything that's been thrown at her. I mean, this is the first fight I've willingly walked into, and already I'm cowering behind a wall wishing I was home."
"Would you want to go back though?"
Damian smiled at Edward. The answer should have been obvious. Again, Damian shut his eyes, and there was Jack's jeering face in front of him. How could something he had once admired so fondly suddenly become an object of such toxic cruelty?
"I think you know better than I do that once you leave one life behind, you can't go back to being the person you were. The only way I could go back was if I went back in time about a year and just accepted all the shit I tried to avoid. I can't go back now though. I'd rather die out there than go home and live that other life."
"I think the first part of that is more likely," Edward said straight-faced, and the two began to laugh. Maybe it was the smoke seeping into their heads, or this impossible moment found on the verge of an endless battle, but Damian felt more at peace here than he had in weeks. He stared at Edward and laughed, wishing that he nothing had to change, that they could linger in this moment until everything fighting against him out there had passed.
As in response, the ground shook, pulling Damian out of his fantasy and back into the real world. It had been happening so regularly that Damian had stopped paying attention, but this felt different. The vibrations jolted through his body, making his bones judder. He stopped laughing immediately, silently focusing on the quivers rising through the wall. Dust trickled and then poured from the ceiling, and Damian knew then it was too late to hide.
"GRRRRRNNNNNN!"
The cry was metallic and clearly false, but there was something visceral and vicious in the Aggron's roar. Damian pulled Edward away as a jagged claw smashed through the wall, throwing the bricks further into the decimated classroom. The beast focused its red eyes on them and roared again, revealing a perfectly smooth mouth that betrayed the constructed ferocity of the replica Pokémon.
"Run," Edward whimpered, saying it in such a way that he seemed to be speaking to the world rather than to either of them specifically.
Yet Damian couldn't move. It wasn't that his body had seized up; he simply didn't see the point. Damian remained where he was, staring into the Aggron's eyes, urging it on. There was no point in running anymore. He had tried that, he signed up for the show, and all that chaos and fighting he simply led him here. The world didn't want him to run, he wasn't destined for that, Damian could see that now. The Aggron raised its arm, and Damian shut his eyes, waiting for freedom to finally arrive.
"What the fuck do you think you're doing?"
Damian opened his eyes uncertainly and involuntarily winced. The Aggron was gone, but in its place stood Alaska, her face a canvas of blood that shone eerily in the firelight. In one hand she clutched her gun, while in the other rested Shelley, her gormless tongue an unsettling contrast to the world around them.
"I'm out there covering your ass and you're just standing here waiting to let him slice your head off?" Alaska rolled her eyes and sighed, brushing away the wet blood from her lips.
Damian said nothing. He simply looked down where the Aggron now lay, four icicles sticking out of the back of its head.
"They seem to be weakest at their necks," Alaska explained. "Buzz must have rushed these ones off the production line in his haste to get his revenge. Stupid bastard. Grab a pole or something and it should be easy enough to defend yourself. If not, go through the eye like you would if they were flesh and blood."
"You're bleeding," Edward mumbled.
Alaska eyed him caustically. "Well observed," she deadpanned, and turned away. "It's only a head wound, they bleed worse than they really are."
Head held high, Alaska strutted out of the classroom, and only after a minute did Damian realising he was following her. The smoke had thickened while he had lain in the classroom, and it took a minute for Bluebell to emerge from the haze.
Alaska paused beside her Ponyta, passing Damian Shelley while she tried to swing her leg over. "While you two have been braiding each other's hair, the robots have only gone and burnt down the bloody school. We seem to have the robots under control, but there could be a third wave coming any time soon. I'm going to look for Emily, but I can't fucking save everyone, so if you don't want to die, I'd suggest you get out into the open and start fighting, alright?"
"But how?" Damian whimpered, aware how stupid he sounded.
Alaska looked down at him from atop her horse, a faint smile on her lips. "Don't fight then. Just protect her." And before Damian could say anything else, Alaska gave Bluebell a short kick and they disappeared, swallowed whole by the smoke.
The moment passed so quickly Damian was struck silent, stunned to find himself alone. "Okay then…" He looked down at the small Pokémon in his hands as if she would offer guidance, but Shelley seemed unfazed by the calamity around her. She smiled dopily at him, tongue lolling about, and her eyes flickered towards the field.
Damian copied her; a wall of smoke awaited him, but he focused, trying to make sense of the figures before him. His Hitmonchan sparring against something tall and round, Paige's flowing crest giving chase to something above them, while green and yellow blurs collided with a harsh red that illuminated the smog.
"How the fuck are we supposed to fight this?"
Damian glanced at Edward. He had forgotten all about him. The moment had passed, never to be reclaimed again; the beautiful creature from before was now broken and useless, barely standing as he stared hopelessly at the fight. The loss only hurt so much as Damian was sure if the roles were reversed, Edward would see the same in him.
"I guess we just have to." Damian looked back at Shelley and got an eager nod. If she wants to fight, what's stopping me? The ground started shaking again, and he saw something squat yet wide moving through the smoke. None of the Pokémon nearby seemed to notice it, too engrossed in the battles they were already fighting.
No more hiding. No more running. No more fear. Damian raised the Shellder up, almost like a shield, and braced himself, ready to be bowled over again. Yet as the cobblestones shuddered under his feet and Shelley shivered in his hands, Damian knew there was where he was meant to be. He had wanted to escape, and this was where escape had led him. Maybe this is the sign? he thought as the robot came closer. Grasping onto that thought, Damian sprinted forward, Shellder at the ready, and roared into the smoke.
