Chapter One Hundred and Three: Exposition Analysis

No one said a word after that. Alaska immediately had a thousand questions she wanted – no, needed – answered, but Blaine climbed onto Apollo and set off down the mountain without saying anything, leaving his question to hang tauntingly in the air behind him.

It was a test, Alaska knew that. She had outsmarted him in the gym battle, found a way to prove herself without defeating him, but rather than celebrate it, Blaine had found a new way to maintain his dominance in the situation.

She was desperate, of course, for more information, for context, for answers, but Alaska knew better than to expect ease from Blaine, and knew pestering him would lead her nowhere. Instead, she said nothing, sitting in silence on Bluebell's back as she sauntered slowly behind Hestia, both still recovering from the battle.

Alaska, too, needed to heal. The pain in her midriff was growing by the minute now that the adrenaline from the battle had passed. She winced every time Bluebell stumbled over some crack in the path, the heat not helping as the sun roasted her exposed skin. Alaska needed answers, but she needed a nurse and some Dream Mist to take the edge off more urgently.

In the tense silence, time passed slowly. It took what felt like an hour for the procession to leave the slopes behind and return to more solid ground, but even then Blaine didn't hurry, happy to take his sweet time getting to their next destination.

Alaska, resigned to the situation, let her eyes drift across the vistas of Cinnabar. It was a barren, black expanse as far as Alaska could see, but now that her expectations for battle had vanished, she was able to appreciate the beauty of the island; parts of the solidified lava looked like rippling water frozen in time, while other sections looked like ribbons, folded and twisted in ways too complex for the human mind to have created. There were flows that resembled rivers of flowing charcoal, while other sections reminded Alaska of clouds, some shadowy reflection of the sky above.

It was easy to get lost in her thoughts, imagining the impossible heat and the geological violence necessary to have created this, but as time dragged on, Alaska felt she could grasp the basics. The sub-tropical sun was blistering, the heat seeping into every crack and pore on her body. Alaska gazed back and the volcano was now miles away, still dominant but slowly slipping away from them, yet she still felt like she was standing by the crater lake being cooked by the toxic fumes.

"Hestia says you want to head indoors," Blaine said suddenly; his deep voice like a thundercrack echoed through the silence, and suddenly Alaska was dragged back to the real world, the five of them alone in the middle of the deserted island with nowhere to hide.

Alaska could imagine the Delphox smiling at her but she refused to meet her eyes. She could only begin to imagine the conversations the two had had during the walk, what else they had been saying about her. "Well, it is starting to feel hot out here."

"That's the afternoon sun for you. If only we could find some shade." Blaine let that rest for a second before cackling at his own joke. "You can calm that fiery head of yours, we'll be there soon."

"Where exactly is there?" Alaska dramatically threw her arms out and stared around. There had gone so far inland that she couldn't even hear the waves crashing against the shoreline now, nor see the boat waiting for her to return. "Cause I can't exactly see anything around here, unless you had a secret invisible lab here this whole time?"

"All the things you've seen and everything you've done, and yet your mind is still as closed as ever." Blaine and Hestia turned around in unison, both wearing near-identical grins. "The eruption may have destroyed everything on the surface of the island, but the true mysteries of Cinnabar have always been hidden below."

Alaska let her arms drop pathetically to her side and sighed as she looked down at the black earth. She should have known there'd be a trick: anything could be hidden under there, and Alaska had gone through enough dark tunnels and secret passageways already to know that they never ended well. She glanced back in what she thought was the direction they'd come and wondered if Latios was still listening.

"You have no need to be afraid," Hestia said, speaking for the first time since her defeat. She did not pause as she spoke but did cast Alaska as warm of a smile as she could manage. "Your friends will be able to find us if needed. Blaine just prefers not to involve them when it's not necessary."

"And why is that?"

Blaine laughed. It was not his usual rough bark; it was short, harsh, a laugh that had no joke attached to it. He did not look back at Alaska, but Apollo shook his head as if feeling his rider's distress. Alaska waited, tightening her grip on Bluebell's mane as she tried to control her own stress, well aware that whatever Blaine was about to say, he was not doing so lightly.

"When I first met Giovanni, he was a young boy – barely older than you are now – but he was already convinced he would be of great importance. I remember the first time I saw him – tall, well-built, a scattering of hair across a pockmarked face, but dressed in a blazer and pants as if showing up for a business meeting. I knew immediately he was not to be underestimated, and was right to be cautious; Ground Pokémon were not yet his speciality, but he came armed with a Nidoking and Rhydon and none of my counters could stop him. I have no idea if he had any other Pokémon with him; those were the only two he needed.

"I was not surprised when he reached the finals of the League, what was it, six or seven months later. He fought fantastically during that tournament, winning every battle with ease and never once using his entire team. I thought he could have won, we all did, and he would have, had it been anyone other than Casimer against him at the end.

"The battle between the pair truly was one of the best I've ever seen. The two were friends, as I'm sure you knew, and they came prepared with strategies and counters and surprises that only two true friends and rivals could have prepared. Either one could have won it, and maybe if Giovanni had pushed his Nidoking further in those final minutes, the world would be a very different place. I hate Casimer for winning sometimes, but what can you do now?

"Having come so close to the power and immortality of a Championship, Giovanni did not let up. It was barely six months after his loss he called us all together – myself, Oak, Rowan, Missingno, Silph – and made his proposition about funding research into Mew.

"Even at the time I thought Giovanni was getting ahead of himself; a boy who had always had everything he wanted unable to cope with his first real loss, desperate to find something to fill the void, desperate to make his mark.

"Yet, despite myself, it was an opportunity too good to turn down. The study of Pokémon had long been my true passion ahead of battling, and with Giovanni's unlimited resources, we all knew we'd never get a better chance.

"You should know the rest by now. We succeeded in finding DNA, but while we thought we would be studying it, Giovanni and Gideon were intent on cloning it, using it to create the ultimate, unstoppable Pokémon. We all found out, we attempted to stop him, war ensued.

"What few people know is that the M2 project was not the only one that captivated Giovanni's attention. Having already lost once, he was not going to box himself in to the possibility of failure; there were multiple projects he devised, all that could be viewed as genuine scientific explorations on the surface, but if you looked a little deeper, you could see there were all about power and dominance.

"The Evolution Inducer was one. There was one that involved resurrecting Pokémon using Ghost Energy. I think that was a distant relative of my field of interest; regenerating extinct lifeforms from fossils. We made breakthroughs in that area, but thankfully it wasn't until after Giovanni failed the first time that my team got us to a level where we could actually bring a Pokémon back to life."

Blaine pulled on Apollo's mane and the Rapidash turned towards Alaska before stopping. Bluebell, smiling at her father's face, stopped too, so Alaska and Blaine were facing each other, Hestia sandwiched in the middle.

"You must not hate me Alaska."

The comment took Alaska by surprise. "What? I don't – why would you think that?"

Blaine smiled solemnly. "It's nice of you to say that, but you do. Deep down, at least. Same with Sandy, same with your family, same with everyone else across Kanto and all the other regions. They may not hate us specifically, but they hate everyone who has allowed the world to get to where it is – war, death, destruction; everything that has happened these past two decades can be traced back to our decision to work with Giovanni, to lead unwittingly lead him to where he needed to go.

"I never wanted it to get as far as it did. There are times I reflect on, back before it got too hard to ignore, where I had concerns, moments of doubt or uncertainty about what we were doing. But I ignored them, desperate to get the answers I had dreamt about for decades. We were able to resurrect Pokémon that had been extinct for millions of years, which is one of the greatest scientific achievements in human history. I will never regret that, but then… look what we got in return."

He gestured to the ground, his voice the most distraught Alaska had heard it. In that moment, they had something in common; the homes they'd love destroyed, left unrecognisable by forces they had no control over. Alaska looked at the bare, black expanse that surrounded her and felt lucky for the first time ever: Viridian may have been ruined, but at least there had been something left to rebuild.

"Helping you will not absolve me of what I have done," Blaine continued finally, "but if we can finally put an end to Rocket and Giovanni's plans, I might just be able to rest a little easier at night."

"Why have you brought me here then?"

Blaine smiled, his sly, sparkling smirk sliding over his sorrow. He dismounted Apollo and signalled for her to do the same. Alaska winced as she slid inelegantly off her stead, the pain in her stomach surging in that brief movement, but had no time to pity herself; Blaine had finally picked up the pace, withdrawing Apollo and replacing his Ultra Ball with another in one swift movement.

As Alaska withdrew Bluebell, a yellow flash briefly illuminated the lava flows, but the glare was so strong that in the air it simply looked like sunstrike. Alaska couldn't get a clear look at the Pokémon until the light had faded, and struggled to hide the surprise on her face: a Chandelure floated in the air, shining a dazzling if eerie blue that somehow sucked the heat out of the afternoon air.

"Interesting choice," she murmured. The Chandelure turned at her voice, staring at her with intense yellow eyes that showed no signs of life, and Alaska decided to stay quiet in its presence.

"Xiuthe is not one of my principal fighters, but he has one particular skill that's needed to get to where we need to go." Blaine smiled and gestured at his Pokémon.

Without hesitation, the Chandelure lunged: it looked like it had been crafted from glass and steel, but its arms stretched and bent as easily as rubber, reaching out and pulling Alaska, Blaine and Hestia towards him. The blue flames looked more purple up close, but as Alaska's arm brushed against one, she felt a flash of heat pass through her body that left an unshakable chill in its wake.

"I'd avoid those flames if I was you – you'll need a strong heart where we're going," Blaine cackled.

Before Alaska could ask where that was, she found herself falling. She gasped and looked down as her feet disappeared into the lava flow, followed rapidly by her legs and hips. Alaska looked at Xiuthe and the Chandelure focused its soulless eyes on her as he dragged the trio through the earth, the group dropping as if on an invisible elevator.

Alaska had passed through pitch-black tunnels and found herself buried under rubble, but phasing through solid earth was an entirely different experience: it was a crushing darkness that swallowed her entire body, her physical form cold as it moved through the earth like the wind through grass, but every bone and muscle ached as if she was literally being put through the wringer.

The weirdest part came when her feet were free, a sudden easing of pressure replaced by a biting chill that seeped into Alaska's core yet seemed to blow through her at once. Slowly, Alaska's entire body was freed from the phasing experience, but the darkness remained, masking the vastness of wherever Blaine had brought her. Alaska couldn't be sure of the size – the glow from Xiuthe's core only illuminated their small party – but she had walked through enough caves and tunnels to recognise the eeriness of empty space.

It seemed like hours before Alaska's feet touched solid ground, but the second there was contact she stumbled out of the Chandelure's grip. The purple light showed a cracked floor coated in about an inch of dust, but Alaska went straight for an upturned table that was just within reach.

"Have you never phased before?" Hestia purred.

"Leave her be," Blaine snapped before Alaska could respond. "It still gives me the chills after all these years – come on, don't give me that look!" The purple glow moved as Xiuthe turned haughtily away from Blaine, casting Alaska back into the darkness but lighting up more of the room – more dust, more cracks, but now what looked like a marble column came into existence, displayed across the floor like a child's toy forgotten after a tantrum.

"Fuck me." Alaska unsteadily rose to her feet, staring into the darkness with sudden clarity. She suddenly knew where they were, having been here once before. She had been bored senseless that day, uninterested in touring a half-ruined mansion when sparkling beaches and sunkissed beaches were calling her name. If only you'd known.

"The penny's dropped for our friend," Blaine called, the laughter there in his voice as always. "Shall we show her how things have changed?"

Hestia's staff crackled and glowed, and a ball of flame, burning orange with the faintest shimmer of pink, rose towards the roof. When it was several metres above them, Hestia twitched her staff and the ball expanded, turning into a burning whirlpool that illuminated the room in hot orange light.

Alaska had initially expected to arrive in some cave akin to Blaine's Seafoam hideaway. Instead, she found herself in a long, rectangular room at odds with what it wanted to be: there were carpeted floors and tiled walls, marble columns nearly three times her height surrounded by metallic tables that belonged in a hospital. Ornate chandeliers that looked eerily like Xiuthe's relatives lay in a shambolic pile in one corner, while cracked glass cabinets lay on their side in another, the only thing uniting them the orange glow above. The room was long but narrow, with doorways at either end that remained in darkness, revealing nothing at something that lay beyond.

"Huh," Alaska mumbled after she cast her eyes across every dusty surface. "I don't think they showed us this room on the tour."

Blaine laughed, his usual cackle that carried on for too long, leaving Alaska to think back to her vacation. She could no longer remember the original name for the building – after its owners had abandoned it, wild Pokémon had moved in, and thus it had simply become Pokémon Mansion. So many had moved in, pushed out of their natural homes by hotels and holiday homes, that it had become a tourist attraction, a place people wanting a break from the sun could wander around for an hour or two, maybe capture a rare Pokémon – but most hid when the tourists came, making the visit to a delipidated, forgotten estate an even duller one for a then seven-year-old Alaska.

To be standing here almost a decade later felt like some sort of miracle – how this of all the buildings on Cinnabar had survived the eruption seemed unfathomable. Whatever ulterior purpose this room had served likely had something to do with it: putting the broken pillars and the detritus scattered across the carpets to one side, this room seemed more intact and clean than the ones Alaska had visited. She could remember the mansion smelling neglected and uninhabited, but this one now just had the scene of dust and now smoke from the fire burning calmly above.

"Why do I have the feeling we're in some secret underground laboratory?" Alaska asked once Blaine's cackle had subsided.

"That would be because we are in a secret underground laboratory," Blaine replied, his grin as wide as ever. "This was once the servant's quarters – one of the only buildings on the island to have an underground area. It apparently took a year to break through the old volcanic rock, but the original owners were the types of people to showcase their wealth in every way possible. Plus, even then, they had a way of working with earth."

Alaska shuddered and glanced over her shoulder, expecting to find someone looming behind her. "Giovanni's family owned this place?"

"Originally. His family were amongst the first to utilise Pokémon for manual labour, mainly Ground and Rock types. They made their fortune building many of the major roads and bridges across Kanto. They became so obscenely wealthy and incredibly selfish that when they outgrew this place they simply abandoned it rather than let someone else live here."

"That must have been handy when launching a widespread criminal empire."

Blaine cackled and whacked Alaska across the shoulder in what was meant to be a sign of affection. "Exactly. When Giovanni needed a place for his projects to unfold, this is where he came. We are standing in the birthplace of Team Rocket, the place where every evil thing that has haunted Kanto the last two decades was created."

Blaine sarcastically cast his arms wide and spun like a salesman unveiling a new car, but whatever wonder or grandeur the lab had once held was long gone. It was simply a decrypt ruin like the rest of the building, with only a few scattered remnants hinting at its former life. Nor, as far as Alaska could see, was there anything worth gazing at amongst the fallen pillars and cluttered desks.

"You said you were going to show me what Gideon has been looking for."

Blaine turned back to Alaska and grinned. "Ah, but of course…. You will recall that I did not join you on your little detour to the Sevii Islands."

"Vividly," Alaska said darkly.

"You'll get over it in time," Blaine said, waving his hands dismissively as he and Hestia walked to the end of the room. "Anyhow, I needed some time to reacquaint myself with my old workplace and see what I could find down here that might offer a clue to what our dear Gideon is up to.

"You see, while the majority of Team Rocket's possessions were destroyed after Giovanni fell, they were certain pieces Giovanni had added to his collection that were either too rare or too important to simply destroy. It was decided those few items would be entrusted to a select group of us to look after or hideaway. Given my interest in fossils, this one was given to me, and thanks to the eruption, barely anyone knew this place still existed."

Blaine paused in the middle of one of the narrow walls. He reached out with the index finger on his right hand and instinctively went to the correct tile slightly above his head. The grouting around it flashed white, and a clicking noise like a lock being turned filled the room. With a whoosh of air, a section of wall slid aside, revealing a series of shelves twice Alaska's height hidden in the wall.

"Come closer, girl," Blaine barked as he grabbed a wooden chest the size of his head. Hestia helped him manoeuvre it to the nearest table, where it landed with a heavy thud.

"One last thing you should know," Blaine grunted, his hands resting on the wood. "Gideon and Giovanni met when the former was still at university. Giovanni had already lost to Casimer and was in the early stages of his forming his grand plan, and Gideon's studies were the missing piece he needed.

"Gideon never trained Pokémon competitively but he was obsessed with them, particularly how they evolved. He and I bonded over the idea to revive ancient Pokémon from fossilised DNA, but where we differed was his obsession with going beyond traditional evolution. Gideon subscribed to a niche scientific theory that the evolutionary forms we see today are not the end of the story, that fossils could help us discover lost stages of evolution."

Alaska thought back to the Pewter Museum and the first time she had ever met the scientist. She had forgotten the specifics in the wake of everything that followed, but now she could see him standing in the dim light, raging about fake fossils.

"There's a particular fossil he's looking for, isn't he?"

"Old Amber – the nickname commonly given to the fossils used to revive Aerodactyl. It is not an uncommon fossil to find, but this one in particular had something unique to it. DNA that didn't match the other Aerodactyl on record. DNA that suggested a missing link in the Pokémon's evolutionary chain."

Pausing dramatically for just a moment, Blaine swung the lid open, the salesman finally with something to sell. Alaska leaned in, expecting to find some diamond-like rock glowing with the allure of a rare and unknown Pokémon inside. Instead, all she saw was velvet fabric lining the interior.

"There's nothing in there."

"What?" Blaine reached inside, grasping at thin air, before turning to Hestia. "She's right. Where is it?"

Part of Alaska wanted to laugh; after all this foreplay and build-up, the fact Blaine's big reveal had flopped gave her a bitter sense of victory. She went to say something, but Hestia held up her staff, a faint pink glow in her eyes. Her face quickly sank, eyes widening, and the laugh died in Alaska's throat.

Two things happened at once. Firstly, two consecutive bangs rang out from behind the wall to Alaska's right. In that same moment, Xiuthe came down from the ceiling, her arms wrapping around the trio just as the wall cracked.

Alaska felt a rush of heat and air and threw her arms up as debris hurtled across the room. She could sense chunks of wall and column coming for her, but Xiuthe's protection meant that all she felt was a cold tickle as the force of the explosion simply passed through her.

The explosion lasted only a few seconds, but dust now filled the room, combining with the Sunny Day to create a red-tinged haze that engulfed everything. Alaska reached into her pocket for Darwin's Poké Ball, looking around on all sides for where the enemy would appear from, and could feel Hestia doing the same.

"That was a cute little story, Blaine. How I've missed listening to you talk, I used to find your perspective so enlightening back in the day. What a shame you've grown into such a pathetic old man."

Hestia jutted her staff forwards and a pink glow parted the dust cloud in two, revealing four figures standing on the other side where the wall had been. The Sunny Day had started to spread to the next room, but Alaska didn't need light to recognise Gideon's lean, slightly stooped frame, nor those of his Magnezone and Electrode that were clearly the source of the explosion. The only thing the light revealed was Gideon's smirk, thin-lipped and pale and unwelcomingly familiar.

"Hello Gideon, it's been a long time." Blaine's voice was the calmest Alaska had ever heard it; there was no rage or bitterness in it, no sarcasm or scorn, just the forced politeness one might expect from a teacher catching up with a troublesome former pupil. "Been busy?"

"In my own little way," Gideon snarled while maintaining his grin. "Sorry for the dramatic entrance – I used to leave that sort of theatrics to Archer – but I have been waiting for you to come back for some time. Tell me, Alaska, did you win your latest gym badge?"

"Fuck you," Alaska hissed.

Gideon's smile widened. "Still bitter about your friend's Butterfree? I'm sure you are dying to have a go at me, but let's put that on hold for now – the grown ups need to talk."

He stepped forwards, across the shattered remains of the wall, and Hestia and Xiuthe surged forwards. Just as quickly, the Magnezone and Porygon-Z floated across the divide, electricity and energy sparking across their body. Gideon paused, smiling innocently as he held up his hands, revealing what looked like a yellow oval in his right hand. Blaine whistled softly, and his Pokémon pulled back, their eyes drifting to the oval as well.

"I have spent quite a number of weeks now looking for this," Gideon continued. "If I had known this place was eruption proof, I would have come here first. It never even crossed my mind until I read the little bitch's blog. I didn't think you were so nostalgic for the good old days – but listening to you talk just then, it feels like you've got a rather rose-tinted view of your role in our little plans."

Blaine's smile faltered but Alaska could tell he was trying to keep the peace. "I always liked you, Gideon, more so than Giovanni. You are a bright man, but we have no idea what will happen if you try to use that DNA. Now, why don't you return the fossil to me and we can all leave here in one piece."

Gideon laughed – or at least his body emitted a sound that could only be interpreted as laugh, though there was no humour, joy or anything remotely pleasant about it. "You want the Old Amber back? Why of course, sorry for disturbing your little treasure trove. Porygon, would you mind?"

The disturbed looking Porygon-Z flashed its eyes, and a yellow rock soared towards them with the speed of a bullet, stopping just an inch from Blaine's face thanks to Hestia's own Psychic powers. It looked to Alaska like honey had been frozen in glass, with a giant crack down the side. Blaine ran his fingers over the surface, and when they touched the gap, Alaska knew it wasn't meant to be there.

"What have you done, Gideon?" Blaine whispered.

"I've done what I've always intended on doing, Blaine. You old men always dismissed my theories as fantasy. For decades, men like you have dismissed it as 'Mega Evolution' like it was some sort of gimmick, even when you hang on to ancient rocks just because you are too scared to think of a different world. Tell me, Blaine, does this look like a gimmick to you?"

Gideon turned towards the darkness and whistled. A faint shriek came in response, a noise that could only come from a Pokémon. Alaska had no idea what was happening, the situation lost in a decades-old context only Blaine and Gideon knew, but she could feel Blaine's fear, had noticed the increase in heat as Hestia readied to attack. Trying her best to remain calm, Alaska tightened her grip on Darwin's Poké Ball as, for the first time in hours, she truly let her mind open: Latios, I need you.

Suddenly, a grey blur emerged from the darkness, streaking above them with a horrific roar that reverberated through the rock. The high-pitched scream filled every inch of the room, cutting through Alaska's thoughts and forcing her to cover her ears. She couldn't hear Latios, but it would be hard for all of them back on the boat to have missed this.

The shrieking stopped, and Alaska cautiously looked up. The Pokémon had settled on the edge of one of the broken columns, looming over them with a millennia-old hunger in its eyes.

Alaska had seen photos of Aerodactyl before, she had always thought of them as gargoyles come to life. This was something entirely different. It had the same rough shape and look, but jagged, stone-like spikes covered much of its body from forehead to tail, the largest under its jaw and on the points of its wings. Its wingspan was that of two full-grown men side to side, while the tail coiled around the column. The weight of its jaw kept its mouth open, revealing a half-full mouth: countless teeth were missing, but those that remained looked sharp enough to rip someone in two.

Alaska felt her heart sink. She was one of only three people on the planet who had seen this Pokémon, it was a scientific miracle, but one that could kill her easily. Darwin and Nadia alone would be no match for this Pokémon. The look of it was ferocious, and the speed of its flight was unmatchable. And what strategy can you have for a Pokémon that's never been fought before?

"Gideon, what the fuck have you done?" Blaine snarled, breaking the heavy silence that had followed the shrieking.

"I think you'll find I used technology you helped invent," Gideon replied, and Alaska detected a hint of pain in his voice. His mentor doesn't have anything nice to say to him.

"Look at that thing – you didn't revive it properly!"

Alaska reluctantly turned back to the creature, which still held her in its gaze. She took another look at its skin and realised it wasn't just teeth that were missing: there multiple patches of torn flesh, exposing raw red muscle and in some places gristle-covered bone.

"The resurrection process wasn't fully up to analysing DNA like this, but for a first attempt at reviving a true Aerodactyl, I think I did a decent job." Gideon stared appreciatively up at his creation, the only one seemingly unbothered by its presence: even his Magnezone and Porygon-Z had slipped away, joining his Electrode behind the broken wall.

"What are you planning to do now, Gideon?" Blaine roared, stepping forwards and gesturing his cane.

"Blaine, don't," Hestia hissed, but her trainer ignored her.

"I always knew this was theoretically possible, but sometimes things should remain a theory. We have no idea the strength of this creature. There were rumours of a temporary fourth evolution in Hoenn several years ago, and the Pokémon had enough power to destroy half a city. Is this your plan, to conquer the world with these Pokémon?"

"Conquering the world was never my plan, Blaine, you of all people should know that," Gideon snapped. Both men had lost their earlier composure, and now it was a full-blown argument, emotions and sentiments built up over years of separation finally coming to the surface.

"What then, Gideon, what do you hope to achieve? Inducing evolution didn't work, so now it's back to trying to prove some far-flung theory? You are better than that, Gideon, and you are better than trying to revive some ancient grudge of Giovanni's."

Gideon froze. For the first time since Alaska had met him, he look genuinely offended, Blaine's words touching on something no one else could get to. Alaska pulled Darwin's Poké Ball out, one eye on the supposed Aerodactyl, wondering if she should strike now, or if Blaine had other plans.

"You should know Blaine that I worked with Giovanni so long as it advanced my own plans, not his. I would love for you to stick around so I can tell you what I have planned, but the fact you would dare to compare me to Archer and his failings, or dismiss my own genius is something I cannot let slide. I'm afraid you are going to have to help me test something instead, my old friend."

"I'm the one that's meant to deal with riddles, Gideon," Blaine yelled back. There was a laugh in his voice to counter Gideon's menace, but Alaska watched with silent horror as the gym leader let his cane drop to the ground, and he glanced over his shoulder at her, giving her a smile that one day a decade ago would have come with a wink.

Gideon laughed for a moment before whistling; the Aerodactyl straightened up, stretching its wings out, and its eyes turned to Blaine. "No riddles here, Blaine – I just need you to help me test the beast's speed." And he whistled again, his glistening eyes focused only on Blaine.

Blaine did not turn towards Gideon or the Aerodactyl. He continued to face Alaska, smiling wide, and she could see Hestia was watching her, eyes swimming with tears.

"No, don't…"

"You know what you have to do now," Blaine said, still smiling, and that was the last thing Alaska saw before the grey blur engulfed him, and a pair of screams filled the air.