Chapter Ninety Seven: No Arms Around Me
The second Sandy awoke, she knew something was wrong.
This was no sixth sense alerting her to some hidden danger. As Sandy's eyes struggled to adjust to the glaring sunlight, she could hear chaos erupting in the distance, a cacophony of sounds and shouts that blended into one; the screeches of a bird here, the ratter of gunfire there, a distant bang that shook the entire building.
So this is what Amanda was afraid of. Sandy had no time to sit and worry about whether the new arrivals were friend or foe, she just knew she had to get free.
Yet her arms were still splayed around the pole, held so tightly Sandy was worried her elbows would invert. She tried pulling at what was holding her in place, but it refused to budge, the metal around her wrists instead cutting into her skin. Whatever Amanda had used to bind her here was sharp and rusted, and Sandy in her weary, half-conscious state couldn't help but scream into the empty room.
Though maybe it wasn't empty after all. Sandy swallowed her scream and fell silent, her ears pricked up and alert. Did I imagine that? She tried to peer around the pole for the source of the footsteps, but she saw nothing within the limited range provided to her.
"Hello?" Sandy held her breath but all she could hear was her own shout echoed back.
Then, an ear-piercing shriek vibrated through the air. Sandy yelled in terror, but the sound came from above rather than behind her; she sank back against the pole and watched as a giant figure flew overhead. Its wings were long and billowing, the elongated neck, but as it flew over the pockmarked ceiling, briefly blocking the sun, Sandy could only see a tinge of red that did little to identify it.
Is that thing on my side? Sandy turned to try and follow it, listening as it screamed into the open air. Its call was so loud all other sounds were lost beneath it; Sandy realised too late that a figure was sprinting towards her through the shadows, but the sunlight glinted off of something held by its side.
"PLEASE, NO WAIT I CAN –" Sandy was too late; the figure was barely upon her when it raised its hands, and all she could do was shut her eyes and scream as it lunged towards her.
There was the sharp twang of metal on metal, and Sandy's arms fell to her side. She stopped screaming as she collapsed to the floor, her curved back unable to hold her own weight up. She slumped face first into the mouldy floor and slowly brought her hands to her sunstruck eyes, checking that nothing had been lost, her arms were so numb she would not have felt it anyway.
"Wh-who-who are you?"
The person said nothing. Sandy tried to push herself up but her arms gave way. She resigned herself to staring at the figure's legs, but even they became obscured as they dropped a bag centimetres from Sandy's face.
"If they get to me, you'd better tell them I saved you."
Sandy's heart skipped a beat. "Chloe? Is that you?"
There was no answer, only frantic footsteps as Chloe sprinted back the way she had come. She made no effort to be stealthy now that her duty was done, and Sandy wondered if Chloe would have even said anything had she still been asleep. I left her to die in that boat, and now she's saved my life.
The thought weighed down on her heavily, but the creature above screamed out again, forcing Sandy to put Chloe aside for now. She couldn't stay in this health hazard of a building anymore, especially not with Pokémon large enough to terrify Amanda bearing down on them. Save yourself now, feel guilty later.
With her hands out of action, Sandy had limited options. She resorted to dragging her legs towards her chest before she rolled onto her front once her knees were touching her breasts. Her ankles ached as much as the rest of her, but Sandy bent them so her feet were flat and then pushed herself upright. Her head thwacked against the pole, but she added the pain to her list of maladies and moved on.
Sandy raised her arms as much as she could; now that they were free, she could see Amanda had shackled her to the pole with a thick chain, the type probably used to keep manic Pokémon under control, that she'd looped clunkily around Sandy's wrist. "Rude," she huffed, and tried to pull them off. Her wrists screamed at her to stop, and fresh trickles of blood ran out beneath the metal.
"Great, there's goes any chance of running out of here." Sandy filed the grievance away, hoping to bring it up with Amanda's face one day, and turned her focus to the bag.
She had worked out already it was hers, but that didn't make its return any less welcome. Sandy used her feet to pull it closer and felt inside the outside pocket, her aching fingers brushing against all six Poké Balls.
Thank the gods. She longed to see all her Pokémon again, but as her fingers brushed against the roughest and most worn of her capsules, she knew five of them would have to be patient.
Sandy started crying before the red light had even faded. When Butterfree came to, she stared at her trainer incredulously, her confusion only deepening as Sandy threw her handcuff-laden arms around her. "I never thought I would see you again," she sobbed.
"Freeeee?"
"I got kidnapped again."
"Freee," Butterfree sighed knowingly. Her tiny hands pushed Sandy away as she scanned their surroundings with her giant eyes. "Butterfree Freee."
"Yeah, this place doesn't seem entirely up to code. I feel we should get out of here, like, right now? Though," Sandy added, raising her arms, "if you could break –"
Butterfree's eyes flashed before Sandy had finished speaking, and the manacles fell apart, hitting the floor with a thunderous echo. Butterfree then raised her hands, and Sandy yelped as she slowly rose to her feet, her bag falling into her arms.
"You are getting really good at that Psychic. Must have had a good trainer!" Sandy laughed for barely a moment before Butterfree glared at her. "Yes, I know where we are! I nearly get killed every other day, we might as well start having a laugh?" God knows I need one.
"Free," Butterfree mumbled dismissively, and she started to fly the way both Amanda and Chloe had gone. Sandy stumbled after, even though her feet felt heavy like logs after so long tied to the pole, but it simply took another burst of screeching and gunfire to get her running like normal.
The lighting remained patchy throughout the floor until they reached a carpeted area in front of an empty lift shaft. A larger hole left more of the sunlight in, as well as the other elements; Sandy gagged at the smell of mildew and five years of Wingull crap. Thankfully, an empty door frame revealed a plain, concrete staircase that simply smelt of smoke and freedom.
Sandy had barely made it down one flight before an explosion echoed up the stairwell. She paused and peered tentatively over the slightly melted barrier; about eight floors down she could see frenetic flickers of light as gunfire was exchanged, followed by a crackling flash that was undoubtedly a Thunderbolt. "There's some kind of battle going on. Do you think they're here to rescue me?"
Butterfree said nothing, which generally meant she didn't know, and carried on down. Sandy followed, moving slower than she had done, cautious of what might be waiting for them on the other floors. Yet they encountered nothing as they covered off the next two flights of stairs. The gunfire was getting louder and closer though, and Sandy could identify individual grunts and shouts mixed in with the hisses and roars from what sounded like a small army of Pokémon.
"Butterfree," she hissed, stopping two floors away from the stairwells end. "Should we really go down there?"
"Free Free?" Butterfree gestured at the wall, bare except for cracks deep enough to almost make a small window. "Free!"
"I know it's our only choice, but…" Sandy hesitated as the building shook around them. She peered over the edge and saw fire dancing near the bottom of the stairwell, illuminating the shadows of a half dozen figures fighting nearby. "We don't know who's on our side or what they want. I won't be able to handle another fight." She was struggling to stand as it was, and her wrists had not stopped bleeding for the last five minutes, her arms streaked with crimson.
Sandy doubted it would be enough to sway Butterfree. She had an impatient look about her, and she kept looking at the crack in the wall. Sandy could only see sunshine, but Butterfree's Compoundeyes could clearly see more. It suddenly struck her that she had never really put much thought into the limits of that power. She had never been that fussed before all this started, but there was untold potential Sandy and Alaska hadn't tapped into for all these months.
"Okay, if you're certain, let's –"
"Who's up there?"
Sandy shrieked and jumped away, but not before she saw a rough, thick-jawed face glaring up from the bottom of the stairwell. She ran through the doorway leading to the next floor as Butterfree fired off a Psychic, not stopping to think or care if the person was friend or foe. The new floor looked just like the one she'd been held on, though there was no sunlight pouring through the ceiling here, just an endless gloom.
No fucking way I'm going in there. Butterfree appeared by Sandy's side as she looked frantically for an escape, and mercifully there was enough light to illuminate the silhouette of a skirted stick figure hanging askew on the nearest wall.
"Bathroom!" Sandy yelped gleefully, and she sprinted off, hopeful that no one was following. "In here," she shouted to Butterfree, and charged through the door shoulder first.
The first thing she saw was a pile of boxes, stacks scattered in lieu of toilets and sinks. By the time Sandy's manic, tired, fretful brain had realised how unusual this was, a figure had emerged from one of the stalls. "Why, Alexandra, is that you?"
Deep within Sandy's chest, a phantom pain screamed out from her past. Sandy could feel the gravel of Lavender Town's roads under her back, she could feel a warm cool spreading down her chest, she could see dark spots dancing before her eyes.
This is a trick. This has to be a dream. Amanda's done something, hasn't she? Sandy could hear her own breathing though, frantic and out of rhythm, and that wasn't normal for a dream, right? She could hear shouts beyond the walls, likely from that rough-jawed man and his comrades, probably looking for her, but she could have imagined them, surely?
Yet the longer Sandy stared at Gideon, her eyes as wide as they've ever been, she knew he was real. Sandy's subconscious remembered only the smirking scientist, whereas this Gideon had aged since Lavender Town, though badly, like a rotting pumpkin. She could not remember his hair being so long, nor his eyes, which only briefly looked in her direction, being so gaunt and empty. His shallow, pale face resembled a wax figure left to decompose, and his body, currently hunched over a cabinet in the far stall, seemed half the size she remembered, the discs of his spine exposed through his tattered, stained coat.
Only his voice, high and pretentious, remained the same. "I suppose I shouldn't be all that surprised. Fate does seem to have intertwined the paths of you, Alaska, and I for some mysterious means. Is she here?" Gideon paused and looked around for a moment before returning to his work. "I suppose not. What a pity. It might have made a nice little reunion. Oh well, there's still plenty of time to catch up."
Gideon moved to another cabinet as if Sandy was not even there, humming contently to himself. Sandy felt Butterfree's hands on her arm, tugging her back towards the door, but even with him avoiding her, Sandy couldn't bring herself to move. She wanted to cry, she could feel her angry, anguished tears waiting in the wings for their cue, but a dumbstruck rage kept her rooted to the spot. This was the man that had shot at her, that had tried to kill her and Alaska, and here he was in the same building she'd been held captive in. Gideon was right about fate, but why, after being on that boat and hiking that hill and hiding in the cave, had it led her here?
"Are you working with Amanda?"
Gideon laughed. The sound came out strangled, as though he had forgotten how to properly. "Work with… Amanda!" Gideon leant back and slapped his hands together. "Goodness me, that's the funniest thing I've heard all year. Amanda, working with me – imagine!"
The scientist shook his head and chuckled a few moments more before he turned his gaze back on Sandy; his eyes shone with malice his laugh could never replicate, and his smile bore yellowed, cracked teeth, a leer stolen from a cartoon villain. "I'm sorry to laugh, my dear, but it has been a while. Things haven't been great since I shot you – not because of you, of course, merely the circumstances that coincidentally happened after.
"You see, Charlotte's little book was only one of many items I need. I've been on a scavenger hunt ever since, only I left the clues back in 2008 so I've been having the most terrible luck. I tried searching in old houses and hideaways and some of Giovanni's old shell companies and front businesses and all that nonsense, but nothing! Absolutely nothing!
"Then, just an hour ago, I happened to be passing through an old café Giovanni and I had once haunted when I saw the television. A fire at the Arcethian Academy! Robots falling from the sky! The whole school being evacuated! Well, I thought to myself 'That Alaska, what is she up to now?' But then the newsreader said something about Trainer Tower, how there were reports of strange activity there, asking if the two events were connected? Obvious answer, I thought. And then –" Gideon slapped his hands against the filing cabinet; the metal boomed like thunder, and Sandy struggled not to sob, her heart beating faster with every minute.
"How could I have been so foolish?" he screamed. "In those last few weeks after Giovanni's oh-so-grand plan failed, I was scrambling trying to keep the dream alive. I had to move all our equipment and filing and secret little projects away from our bases that had been so hopelessly exposed by that daft, brilliant man's flawed attempts at grandeur – but where to put them? Well, where no one would think to look, of course, and what better hideaway than a recently condemned building that would sit forgotten in the eyes of the world, what with one city buried by lava and the other buried upon itself? It was so brilliant, even I forgot it was here!"
Gideon attempted to laugh again, and he continued to thrash his hands against the cabinets. He pranced around as if playing the drums, becoming so caught up in his own mistake that he turned his back on Sandy. She didn't even look at Butterfree to know she had the same idea; Sandy stepped back as swiftly as she could, and subtly reached her hand into her bag.
A click made her pause. "Oh no you don't," Gideon purred. He was watching Sandy now, one eye on her and one on the thick white gun held in his right hand.
Sandy's fingers were only centimetres from her Poké Balls but she didn't dare move. There was a chance Butterfree could stop the bullet, Sandy was confident of that, but there was the Donphan to consider; had Butterfree recovered enough to ensure their safety?
I'm sorry, I'm so sorry. Sandy pulled her hand from her bag and slowly raised her arms. Gideon's lips rose up towards his cheekbones, made visible by his hollowed cheeks, and he stepped closer. "Wise girl. I knew you were the smarter of the two. It's a shame Alaska gets all the attention, but that's how these things go, isn't it? Oh well, at least you'll have your name on the memorial first."
"What's the point in killing me?" Sandy said, clenching her teeth to try and stop herself from crying.
Gideon shrugged. "To send a point, I suppose? Is that good enough for you? Honestly, I don't have one. It's merely convenient, really. It might distract them from paying too much attention to all that I've had here. Not that any of it's important, anyway," Gideon added, throwing the folder he had held aside. "I found what I needed about twenty minutes ago. It's always the last place you look, isn't it? I was just glancing over the rest for old time's sake, I wasn't sure why at the time, but now I know," he added, winking.
Gideon's eyes wandered around the bathroom, staring at the mouldy ceiling and the cracked walls. He wiped one finger across a dusty pile of boxes and smiled. "So much work, all gone to waste. None of it as important as the one piece of paper I've needed all this time." He reached into his pocket and held it up, grinning as he did so.
"What is it? If you're going to kill me, you might as well tell me." Sandy smiled herself. "I mean, who am I going to tell?"
Gideon chuckled, nodding his head as he slipped the piece away. "It's a nice idea, but I'd rather not." He kept his gun steady as he used his pinky finger to tap the watch on his left wrist, causing a dazzling light to illuminate the ceiling. "Goodbye for now," he said, but his words were deafened by the explosive din of the gun. The recoil nearly sent Gideon crashing back into the cabinet, but the teleportation of his watch saved him, sucking him away before Sandy had even hit the ground.
Sea spray battered Alaska as the boat skimmed across the waves. She was too tense to lean back and bask in the low Sevii sun, but even in her current state – head swaying, body aching – Alaska could appreciate true beauty when she saw it. There was only the odd atoll or a distant school of water Pokémon to break the endless cerulean canvas that sprawled ahead of her, a million different shades of blue all blended into one.
In a different life, this would be paradise, but for now, it was merely a passing thought. The natural wonder of the ocean was simply in the background as Alaska stared towards the horizon, thinking of their destination. I'm coming, Sandy. We're nearly there, just hang on.
The ship was not big nor fast, an aged pleasure liner that Leaf had commandeered from the school. It was more than big enough to hold them all, but Alaska had chosen to sit on the bow away from everyone. Leaf had tried to coax her inside but Alaska had declined, insisting she needed the fresh air. The gym leader smiled and agreed, even though she didn't believe her. Leaf thought Alaska was trying to avoid her, unaware the twins both thought the same. Only Damian got close to the truth. He said nothing to the others, knowing too well they wouldn't believe him anyway, but he knew Alaska would not settle until she knew Sandy was safe.
Yet even he was wrong. A few hours ago, Alaska may have assumed all of that regardless. Now, she knew it to be fact. She could see into the heads of her motley crew of allies and family. It was not a clear image into any one mind, rather an assorted jigsaw made of the pieces of many. Leaf's calmness, Edward's shock, Emily's guilt, Damian's sense of victory; they were voices, whispering to her from the dark, no one loud enough to speak above the other, yet Alaska heard them all anyway.
It will get better, over time.
For the first time since they had left the school, Alaska took her eyes off the water. Latios had remained at the exact same height above the boat for the last hour. Alaska could feel his body straining at moving so slowly, especially as Articuno and Suicune had long abandoned them to go fight alongside their siblings, but still, he remained.
His gesture was noticed but unappreciated. Only a few hours ago Alaska had pleaded for him to save her, but now that he was here, she wished he had stayed away. "Get better how? I'll be able to read their minds better, or shut them out completely?"
Both. Whatever you choose. These powers are yours now, and once you have mastered them, they will be yours to initiate however you wish.
Alaska smirked at the ocean. "You know I don't want this. Can't you shut off whatever you turned on?"
No. The answer was short and simple, exactly what Alaska had expected. You can be as annoyed with me as you like, but there is nothing you or I can do. This is the path that was set out for you, the powers above have bonded us together –
"Why is that? Why you and I specifically, why do we need each other?"
Have you not been paying attention? Latios asked with a hint of a smile in his voice. We're in the middle of a war, one that is only about to get worse. He gestured towards the horizon; in the minute Alaska had taken her eyes off the water, their destination had emerged in the distance, a heap of rock that would seem unremarkable if not for the smoke rising into the air.
Alaska's rage slipped to the back of her mind as they neared Seven Island. More voices were reaching out for her, but there was only one she was after. They got louder as the approach through the narrow strait between the islands. As it slowed, Alaska gazed up at the hill she had lingered on last night, and her eyes fell back to the waters that had dwelled on her mind since. The water was clear enough to see a school of Remoraid, but the shipwrecks and fallen men lay out of sight.
Wars turn out so well for Kanto, don't they? Alaska felt Latios' eyes on her neck but she avoided looking at him, staring instead at the Trainer Tower. Smoke rose from several floors, but even with people swarming the plaza, the complex still felt as lifeless as it had last night. Though maybe it hadn't been…
As the boat slid into its berth, Alaska leapt onto the dock. Her leg pinged and her body swayed, but she forced herself onwards. Sandy was here and Alaska had to find her, she had to make up for leaving her in this tomb. She tried to sense her out, but the further she walked through the pockmarked plaza, the louder the voices became. Alaska paused near a fresh crater and stared around as the military police marched by, accompanied by either an assortment of Pokémon or a handcuffed henchman being led away, it didn't matter to Alaska as all their thoughts echoed just as incessantly. Her body was just strong enough to keep her upright, but Alaska's head couldn't handle all the thoughts.
What was this bitch planning to do; start a war from the arse end of the region? This is fucking Seven, why would anyone think of coming –
- here, I never should have, why did I let Mick talk me into this? I had no idea it would turn out like this, why won't this arseholes listen to me? I just want –
- to go home. Maybe I could ask the boss if I can go back with the first batch of prisoners? We shouldn't even be doing this, this isn't our job. The gym leaders should clean up their own shit, the useless, overpaid –
- assholes haven't got a clue what Amanda has planned. They are never going to see what's coming, even when it's right in front of –
- them? Oh my god, it is! It is! It is!
Alaska turned before he had even called out her name. "Lachlan."
"Alaska!" Lachlan sprinted towards her, arms outstretched in his excitement, but he stopped when he saw her injuries. "Fuck, what happened to you?"
"A lot." Alaska instinctively reached for her head, which a medic had roughly stitched back together before they got on the boat. She would have preferred some proper treatment, but after the school saw the giant craters scattered through their building, their hospitality had quickly vanished.
"Well, I've had a hell of a time of it as well." Lachlan straightened his back and smiled proudly as he spoke, but before he could regale Alaska with his adventures, his attention turned elsewhere. "Damian!"
"Lachy!"
Alaska watched Lachlan sprint towards Damian, leaving only a trial of memories dancing through his head; she saw glimpses of towering cliffs, a rampaging Donphan and a tiny house on a giant field, but nothing that gave her any hint of Sandy. She cast her eyes across the scattered crowd, trying to see that lavender dress or those big beaming eyes, but the only faces that stood out were the ones she knew too well.
"Alaska, Edward doesn't think this is Trainer Tower, but it must be, right?"
Alaska smiled at her sister as she pushed past the reunited reality stars, watching as Emily led Edward gingerly over the cracked plaza. "The very same. I guess dad was right after all: these places are never as good as the ads."
Shitting fuck, Emily thought. She kept her alarm to herself, but her wide-eyed shock said more than her words ever could.
"What happened here?" Edward asked. "Is this your base?"
"No, that deed belongs to someone else." Alaska realised she hadn't seen or heard Amanda either, but the producer was clearly being kept elsewhere, if she had even been here to start.
Oh my gods. "Alaska, are those –"
"Yes, they are." Alaska copied the twin's gazes and looked to the roof; all three legendary birds were nestled there, stoically observing the scene below. Moltres and Zapdos were undoubtedly contributors to the smoke, but Alaska had seen Entei and Raikou nearby as well.
"It's really them," Edward whispered, awestruck.
Alaska smiled at his innocence. She could see feelings inside both of them that she had felt only a few weeks ago. The joy and fear had passed though, now that she had seen inside the head of a god. Alaska looked furtively towards Latios, hovering ominously above the scene, but she tried to keep their minds separate.
"If you've come to destroy something, you're a little late."
"I don't know about that," Alaska murmured. "You've left me this lovely building, I could easily blow it up for the grand finale."
Janine's laugh carried through the plaza. It made a disarming sight, her grinning while she clutched bloodstained swords in her hands, but Alaska was less intimidated than her siblings were. "I'm sure you could, especially with your friend over there."
"I imagine you didn't need any gods to help you clean this up," Alaska said, eager to move on.
Janine shrugged, casting her eye over a dozen-strong group of prisoners nearby. "Not really. The gods made for good theatrics, but these are just a bunch of boys desperate to have some part of the Team Rocket heyday. Probably recruited from and given some rudimentary training before being forced into action. Pretty much all of them surrendered before I even drew my sword."
Somehow, Alaska found this more depressing than she had anticipated, and struggled to look away from the hapless group, half of whom were on the verge of tears. "What about Amanda?"
"She's shackled to the sink in our boat," Janine replied, pointing to a blockish blue vessel roughly the same size as a passenger ferry. "She tried to fight, but made the mistake of bringing a gun to a sword fight. I was going to leave her out as a present for you, but she kept screaming and threatening everyone, even with a gag in her mouth. She's lucky I didn't chop her tongue out."
"Wow, you really are as psychotic as everyone says," Edward said, clutching a hand to his mouth a moment too late.
Janine smiled at him and sarcastically put a hand to her heart, the sword swinging close by. "Thanks babe, that means a lot. Your siblings?"
"Sadly," Alaska replied. "Why the fuck did you ride a boat here?"
"We were worried about anti-teleportation spikes," Janine said plainly. "And I certainly hope you've found some, otherwise you owe me the two hours I spent on a boat back," she added, talking to someone over Alaska's shoulder.
It was Leaf who answered. "There were some, don't worry. Blastoise just found one planted in the seabed right by the pier."
The four of them turned to Leaf, but the gym leader was not looking at any of them. She stood a few feet away, eyes locked on the tower yet her mind wandering in the past. Leaf seemed calm on the outside, but Alaska could see her thoughts, fragments of the last battle than had taken place here, and knew the placidness was a façade.
For the first time, she found herself sympathising with her, but Alaska thought best not to say that. "What the fuck are anti-teleportation spikes?
"They are an old Team Rocket weapon," Leaf replied, finally looking towards them. "Metre long rods that emit a dark energy frequency that interferes with Psychic Pokémon. If they are teleporting, they can't see their destination properly and end up going wherever they consider it to be safe."
As Leaf spoke, Alaska saw flashes of memory from both her and Janine and knew then it was real. Yet through the jarring sensation of experiencing other people's pasts, another voice called out to Alaska, one that loudly and pompously denied this fact. Oh god, here we go.
"Anti-teleportation spikes?" Everyone looked at Emily, who stared back with incredulity. "That's the most ridiculous thing I've heard all day, and my school just got obliterated by robots!"
"Sis, shut up!" Edward snapped.
"It's true! I mean, I'm sorry, Miss Oak, I don't mean to be rude, but… I mean… what the actual fuck! That sounds like nonsense!"
"Wow, being difficult must be hereditary," Janine muttered.
"It was a man called Gideon," Leaf said more calmly. "He was the chief scientist for Team Rocket, and…."
Alaska heard nothing else. The voices in her head suddenly disappeared. All around her, things went quiet. The only thing she could hear was the ghost of a strangled laugh that came out of nowhere. It echoed through her head on an endless loop, interrupted only by the occasional crash and bang uncannily like a gunshot. Gideon… Gideon was here…
Then it hit her. The plaza, the breeze, the smoke all vanished. All Alaska felt was an overwhelming sense of anguish that went right to her heart. She stumbled on the cracked earth, her legs giving way beneath her. Someone cried out, but their shouts seemed distant and faint, and Alaska did not notice any of the people rushing to her aid. This feeling had come out of nowhere, shock that gave way to grief that gave way to anger, yet Alaska felt it in every atom of her body.
Focus on it, don't try and fight it.
It hurts so much though. I feel my heart has been ripped in two.
Use that pain, Latios insisted. Focus on, find who it belongs to. To have hit you so hard, it must be coming from someone close.
Or someone close to me. Alaska shut her eyes, putting that thought to the front of her mind. The universe responded to her call; brief, momentary images flickered before her, images that she had never seen before yet in this moment felt as integral to her being as her own flesh and blood.
Clinging to them, Alaska stood up and moved forward, pushing through the growing crowd as if none of them were there. Stunned and quizzical faces melted away into the background, Alaska's eyes locked on the hole where the tower's doorway should be and nothing else, this phantom urge pulling her towards the building.
It was only when she heard footsteps, a soft, slow rhythm that echoed in the distance, that Alaska stopped. She was metres from the entrance, with the crowd hanging awkwardly behind her. She hesitated, unsure whether to carry on, before the decision was taken from her.
Sandy stepped into the light. She moved with an awkward lumber as though carrying a great weight. Her arms, cupped close to her body, seemed empty, and her glazed eyes were staring into the distance, shimmering the more she moved into the open.
"She's bleeding!"
The sudden shout caused a ripple through the crowd, and it caused Sandy to stop. She seemed to only realise now that there were people in front of her, and her eyes, glazed and detached, moved fretfully across them all.
Yet Alaska knew that that person was wrong. She could see the blood now, a smear across Sandy's hands, chest and neck. There were smears of red around her arms, but up close, the fresher layer was something between green and yellow, a colour far more magical and disturbing than anything humans could produce.
"Sandy." Alaska stepped forward and slowly extended her left hand. Sandy gasped, her eyes finally falling on her friend. She stepped back instinctively, but Alaska kept moving towards her. "Sandy, let me see her."
"You found me," Sandy whispered, her voice hoarse and shaking. "You found me."
Alaska could feel her friend's agony more palpably now, and it took all her strength to fight back her own tears. "Sandy, can I see her, please?"
Sandy slowly looked down at her hands and just as slowly looked back up. Her eyes met Alaska's again, though now they were blurred as the tears started to fall. "Why… why weren't you here ten minutes ago. You could of… they might have…"
"Sandy, can I see her? Can I please look at her?"
Sandy howled. "You're too late," she screamed, and sank to the ground, her body quivering violently as if every part of her was sobbing as well.
Alaska's leg twinged as she lowered herself to Sandy's side, but the pain was nothing to what radiated from her friend. Fighting back her own tears, Alaska pulled Sandy in close, and her friend sank into her grip. Her arms relaxed, dropping to her sprawled legs and exposing Butterfree's body to the world. Her eyes were still open, but they were dull and lifeless, smeared by the same blood that oozed from the wound that had shattered her chest.
"Sandy, I'm so sorry, I'm so, so sorry." Alaska shut her eyes as she held Sandy close, and in that moment she saw all the same images her friend was seeing; a Caterpie crawling across her window, a Metapod shell cracking open, the first battle against Paige, sheltering under a tree in the shadow of Mt Moon, Butterfree clutching Sandy as she lay in hospital, and then defending Sandy only 48 hours ago.
The pain was palpable, clinging to every fibre of Alaska's being. Her thoughts were smothered by it, and Alaska struggled to breath as Sandy's primal crying tore through her own throat. She could see Gideon's gaunt face, she could feel the impact of something on her chest, she could experience the shock of survival being dwarfed by the realisation of why she was still alive. Get this out, get this out of my head.
Alaska opened her eyes and searched the crowds. She could Damian, Lachlan, Leaf, Janine, Edward, Emily, all these faces, all this anguish and shock and guilt and confusion and sympathy, but none of it was what she wanted, none of them was who she needed.
A roar tore through the air. Sandy yelped, shuddering in Alaska's arms, and for a moment her sobbing stopped as she looked towards the noise. All eyes had turned away from them and had focused on Suicune; the beast stood on the verge of the pier, flanked by his brothers, staring firmly at Sandy and Butterfree. When their eyes met, he roared again, this time joined by Entei and Raikou, the three unleashing ancient cries into the air.
Above, a second chorus began; in unison, Articuno, Zapdos and Moltres started their own song. Their voices were harsh and violent in their own way, but together, the music they made was both ethereal and unnerving, a birdsong unrivalled in its beauty and power.
Yet their tributes only made Sandy weep harder. Alaska gripped her friend tighter still, the only two people on the island not watching the gods. She shushed her and rubbed her back as she knew should, even though Alaska knew it was meaningless. She could see into her friend's head now, see into her memories, see into her emotions, see into her thoughts. They told Alaska what she could have worked out alone; that nothing could console Sandy, nothing could make this better, nothing could take this pain away.
"I'm here now, we can get through this," Alaska whispered, but with everyone looking away, and Sandy consumed by heartbreak, there was no one left to listen.
Except one. Alaska stared back at Latios for the first time since leaving the boat behind. He had made no noise for some time, hovering silently above the chaos like a ghost out of time with their world. Yet, as their eyes met above the crowds, Alaska could see his eyes were watering and knew without thinking that the tears did not belong to him.
A sound she had never made before escaped through her lips, and finally, Alaska began to weep.
