Chapter Thirteen: Trust This to be Unlucky
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Re: How to Conquer Kanto in Eight Easy Steps - Chapter Twelve
@WinterVines @Alaskapigeon
Chapter Thirteen: Trust This to be Unlucky
Alaska was overwhelmed the second she walked in.
The museum was clearly huge judging just by the atrium. It was the size of Alaska’s entire house, with a few more houses piled on top to make up the extra floors. It was very white and pristine, with huge white tiles that seemed to sparkle as people walked over them. Gigantic columns flanked the marble staircase and the entrance to the other exhibits. More people were staring over the balconies on the other floors, and as Alaska looked up at them, she saw the gigantic glass skylight that was in between two magnificent crystal chandeliers, swamping the room with light.
“I’m going to go right ahead and call it: this is the fanciest building we will enter during this trip!” Alaska told Paige and Darwin, taking a few more steps in and marvelling the structure. Paige nodded in agreement, but Darwin seemed rather bored, probably because there wasn’t anything to punch. Alaska continued to look at the amazing architecture as she joined a short queue to get a ticket, and stared at the murals of different Pokemon running along each of the balconies.
“Hello ma’am, and welcome to the Pewter City Museum,” a woman in a blue uniform said as Alaska stepped up. “It is $50 for entrance, and your Pokemon must be kept near you at all times if –,”
“$50!” Alaska cried, causing several people to turn around and stare. “I’m only going to be here for a few minutes, I’m not paying that much!”
“- at all times if you insist on keeping them out,” the woman continued as if she hadn’t been interrupted, “and even if you here for one minute or one hour, the price stays the same.” Alaska glared at the woman and was tempting to tell her where she could go and shove her price, but realised that she did need to get in and see where this shadowed man had gone.
“Fine, take your money,” Alaska snapped, dropping the appropriate amount onto the counter, “but tell me this: have you seen any strange men come past, most likely wearing all black?”
“Ma’am, we get a lot of strange men in here, it’s a museum,” the woman replied dryly, grabbing the money and putting it into the till. “Our space exhibit takes up the majority of this floor along with our cafes and stores, the next floor is our research facilities, library, history of the local area and Legendary Exhibit, and the top floor is the Fossils of the Kanto Region.”
“Huh, not much for fifty bucks,” Alaska scowled, and left the woman looking like she’d been slapped as she walked past and entered the atrium.
“Pidgey Pidge Gee Pidge,” Paige whispered into Alaska’s ear as they approached the first staircase on the left.
“I know I’m a bitch Paige, just get used to it,” Alaska replied with a smirk, and marched straight through a tour group and began climbing the stairs. Several vases and paintings were displayed all around, and a glass cabinet Alaska passed as the staircase turned had a number of ancient PokeBalls stored inside. Alaska wished to be able to explore the museum more (especially after the outrageous entrance fee that she would rant about in her blog next chance she got), but finding the mysterious man was more important. Space had never interested her that much, and she only liked libraries when she knew something useful could be found within.
“That exhibit on legendaries is permanent, so he could have come here anytime he wanted,” Alaska explained to Paige as Darwin stared away, staring at the number of things on display as they turned and continued up the stairs. “The science equipment I presume would be well guarded, so he probably isn’t going there – Darwin, don’t touch – which leaves the fossils as the last possible thing to go to,” Alaska concluded, grasping onto Darwin’s hands as he reached out towards a collection of ancient plates.
“Gey Pidge,” Paige said, and Alaska simply nodded as they passed another tour group, struggling to hold onto Darwin’s fidgeting hands.
“It isn’t that crowded, so he should be easy enough to find,” Alaska replied, and Paige sighed and shrugged in response. Alaska rolled her eyes and they ventured up the last few stairs in silence, staring around for any sign of the mystery man. The sunlight coming from the skylight was enough to light their way, but Alaska knew it wouldn’t provide as much light as they passed into the wings, and knew the man had to be hiding in there.
But just as Alaska was about to put her feet onto the top floor, thinking about how to find the man, she heard a cry from behind her and quickly turned. A man was running up behind her, a shocked look on his handsome face. Alaska’s heart fluttered a bit as she stared at the man, who looked in his late twenties, and was wearing a black suit that managed to look casual as it snugged his toned body. His face was youthful and tanned, his eyes a sparkling blue and his hair sandy blonde.
“Mind your Pokemon!” He shouted, and Alaska snapped out of her daydream to find Darwin had slipped out of her clutches without her noticing, scaling the wall towards a vase on top of a decorative marble column.
“DARWIN!” Alaska screamed, and the Mankey froze a few feet away.
“Man Man Man Man Man!” He squawked, but Alaska and Paige both shot him a steely glare, and Darwin let out an angry sigh, leaping off the wall and back onto Alaska’s shoulder that nearly sent her toppling, if the man hadn’t given her a hand.
“Your Pokemon seems a bit restless there,” the handsome said, giving Alaska a sparkling smile as he helped her upright. “It could very well be his nature: is he Naughty or Rash by any chance?”
“I have no idea what that means,” Alaska admitted, the two walking up the last few steps together. “I am not really knowledgeable about some of this Pokemon stuff, I just set out to train them and win badges.”
“Ah, like most trainers I’ve met,” the man laughed. “Learning your Pokemon’s natures can help you work out how to train them and where their strengths lie. If you have a PokeDex, that could tell you, otherwise see a scientist or Pokemon Doctor. You know when it could be helpful,” he continued, and Alaska nodded, actually rather interested. She stared at Paige’s attentive and loyal face and than at Darwin’s distracted and slightly twitchy glare: maybe there was some nature behind them that could help her out with training them and gaining an upper hand on the reality stars.
“I’m Mark, Mark Hansom, by the way,” the man said as they headed down the corridor into the fossil section, passing by a multicoloured metal shield as they did so. “I am on the Board of Directors here and helped to organise this exhibit.”
“Yes you are,” Alaska said, thinking it was in her head, admiring how wonderfully his name matched him.
“Excuse me?” Mark said in surprise, and Alaska stopped dead in her tracks, Paige and Darwin giggling on her shoulders.
“I said, I saw your name on the poster when I came in,” Alaska explained quickly, slurring her words slightly. “I’m Alaska Acevedo, and I’m just on my journey.” Mark’s eyes widened slightly as she said her name, but she blinked and they were back to normal, though there was a look across his face that definitely showed interest.
“Well hello then Alaska,” he said, leading her further inside the fossil exhibit. Alaska, Paige and even Darwin began to stare around at the amazing things on display. Around fifty glass cabinets were placed around the room, ranging from ones you could stare down into to ones set into the wall, each one containing either one or two large fossils or about a dozen smaller ones. Photos, descriptions and text were placed on stands next to each cabinet, and a text and photos about the excavation process had been put on the wall. Several interactive screens were going around the room, groups of children giggling as they pressed the buttons, but the thing that attracted Alaska’s attention the most was a gigantic banner right above her, jogging a few memories of things she had learnt back at school.
Several Pokemon had been painted on there, the image truly spectacular. It showed a clawed Kabutops crawling out from the ocean, scythes raised threateningly, as an army of Kabuto and Omanyte crawled out from behind. A single Omanstar was on top of a rock, tentacles wriggling and waving, calling out into the night. And at the very top of the banner, an Aerodactyl was swooping out of the sky, mouth open wide with teeth bared, wings stretched wide with sharp claws raised deviously. The prehistoric scene was dark and stormy, with a bolt of lightning drawn in the backdrop, and the foliage that surrounded was all dark green and ghostly looking.
The banner seemed so life like that Alaska remembered another horror movie she had watched with her father, involving an Aerodactyl coming back to life and terrorising a small town. The movie monster had scared her terribly back then, and Alaska could feel a bit of a shiver staring into the malicious eyes and gaping black mouth.
“I seriously hope you guys never bring one of those things back to life,” Alaska said to Mark, who chuckled. “I swear that thing would be able to pull you to bits and feast on my flesh within a few seconds!”
“Well, if we manage to bring one back to life, we’ll make sure nothing bad happens like that,” Mark laughed. “It is a Water type, so we’ll have plenty of Pokemon on standby.”
“Have you ever brought a fossil Pokemon back to life before?”
“We were planning too, after we found the Old Amber, Dome Fossil and Helix Fossil needed to bring Aerodactyl, Kabuto and Omanyte back respectively,” Mark explained, looking a bit frustrated as he said it. “The technology was ready and waiting all the way on Cinnabar Island, but then…” Alaska made an ‘aah’ sound, seeing where this was going. Cinnabar Island had erupted several years ago, coating the entire island in molten lava that began to set. It was no simply a giant, bare brown lump in the middle of the ocean, a place people avoided in fear of an eruption happening again.
“But don’t you still have the fossils?” Alaska asked as they walked past displays of fossilised Pidgey feathers and Rattata skeletons. Several elderly women smiled at Alaska, and she noticed a young couple making out behind a cabinet, clearly not here for the educational purposes.
“I would like to say so, as I kept the fossils on my after the eruption. But I stored them in my car during another incident, and I returned to find my car had been destroyed. I don’t know what happened to the fossils, as we didn’t find any remnants of them, but we have teams searching Mt Moon for whatever is left,” Mark explained sadly. He stopped in front of another cabinet, and Alaska turned to investigate. Three things were on display: one was a slightly lump orange-red oval, the other two looked like mounds of rock with different things (one a hill, the other a spiral) carved into them.
“Copies of the fossils?” Alaska asked, looking up and staring into the handsome man’s eyes. Mark nodded, looking rather pained as he stared at the copies, and Alaska could understand why: to come so close to turning a pile of rock into a living, breathing thing only to have it destroyed must be a horrible feeling. “I’m sure you’ll be able to find some more fossils, there have to be some lying around somewhere.”
“I sure hope so,” Mark said, smiling down at her. “I just wish Mt Moon hadn’t caved in and we lost half of the area to explore. It is a real bitch digging up the same area time after time,” and Alaska began laughing. She ignored Paige as she began jabbering away in her ear, enjoying her little bonding moment with Mark.
“PIDGE!” Paige squawked, cuffing Alaska over the head with a wing.
“What?” Alaska snapped back, turning to look at her, but quickly froze.
A man was standing a few metres in front of them. He was wearing a long black coat and a black hat, hiding his features from them all. An Electrode was besides the man, sparking angrily at Darwin, who had leapt off of Paige’s shoulder and had his hands raised in a combat pose.
However, Alaska’s eyes were firmly set on the gun clasped in the man’s pale hands, and she began to wish an Aerodactyl would swoop out of the false amber behind her and whisk her away, not wanting to know what would happen next.
@WinterVines @Alaskapigeon
Chapter Thirteen: Trust This to be Unlucky
Alaska was overwhelmed the second she walked in.
The museum was clearly huge judging just by the atrium. It was the size of Alaska’s entire house, with a few more houses piled on top to make up the extra floors. It was very white and pristine, with huge white tiles that seemed to sparkle as people walked over them. Gigantic columns flanked the marble staircase and the entrance to the other exhibits. More people were staring over the balconies on the other floors, and as Alaska looked up at them, she saw the gigantic glass skylight that was in between two magnificent crystal chandeliers, swamping the room with light.
“I’m going to go right ahead and call it: this is the fanciest building we will enter during this trip!” Alaska told Paige and Darwin, taking a few more steps in and marvelling the structure. Paige nodded in agreement, but Darwin seemed rather bored, probably because there wasn’t anything to punch. Alaska continued to look at the amazing architecture as she joined a short queue to get a ticket, and stared at the murals of different Pokemon running along each of the balconies.
“Hello ma’am, and welcome to the Pewter City Museum,” a woman in a blue uniform said as Alaska stepped up. “It is $50 for entrance, and your Pokemon must be kept near you at all times if –,”
“$50!” Alaska cried, causing several people to turn around and stare. “I’m only going to be here for a few minutes, I’m not paying that much!”
“- at all times if you insist on keeping them out,” the woman continued as if she hadn’t been interrupted, “and even if you here for one minute or one hour, the price stays the same.” Alaska glared at the woman and was tempting to tell her where she could go and shove her price, but realised that she did need to get in and see where this shadowed man had gone.
“Fine, take your money,” Alaska snapped, dropping the appropriate amount onto the counter, “but tell me this: have you seen any strange men come past, most likely wearing all black?”
“Ma’am, we get a lot of strange men in here, it’s a museum,” the woman replied dryly, grabbing the money and putting it into the till. “Our space exhibit takes up the majority of this floor along with our cafes and stores, the next floor is our research facilities, library, history of the local area and Legendary Exhibit, and the top floor is the Fossils of the Kanto Region.”
“Huh, not much for fifty bucks,” Alaska scowled, and left the woman looking like she’d been slapped as she walked past and entered the atrium.
“Pidgey Pidge Gee Pidge,” Paige whispered into Alaska’s ear as they approached the first staircase on the left.
“I know I’m a bitch Paige, just get used to it,” Alaska replied with a smirk, and marched straight through a tour group and began climbing the stairs. Several vases and paintings were displayed all around, and a glass cabinet Alaska passed as the staircase turned had a number of ancient PokeBalls stored inside. Alaska wished to be able to explore the museum more (especially after the outrageous entrance fee that she would rant about in her blog next chance she got), but finding the mysterious man was more important. Space had never interested her that much, and she only liked libraries when she knew something useful could be found within.
“That exhibit on legendaries is permanent, so he could have come here anytime he wanted,” Alaska explained to Paige as Darwin stared away, staring at the number of things on display as they turned and continued up the stairs. “The science equipment I presume would be well guarded, so he probably isn’t going there – Darwin, don’t touch – which leaves the fossils as the last possible thing to go to,” Alaska concluded, grasping onto Darwin’s hands as he reached out towards a collection of ancient plates.
“Gey Pidge,” Paige said, and Alaska simply nodded as they passed another tour group, struggling to hold onto Darwin’s fidgeting hands.
“It isn’t that crowded, so he should be easy enough to find,” Alaska replied, and Paige sighed and shrugged in response. Alaska rolled her eyes and they ventured up the last few stairs in silence, staring around for any sign of the mystery man. The sunlight coming from the skylight was enough to light their way, but Alaska knew it wouldn’t provide as much light as they passed into the wings, and knew the man had to be hiding in there.
But just as Alaska was about to put her feet onto the top floor, thinking about how to find the man, she heard a cry from behind her and quickly turned. A man was running up behind her, a shocked look on his handsome face. Alaska’s heart fluttered a bit as she stared at the man, who looked in his late twenties, and was wearing a black suit that managed to look casual as it snugged his toned body. His face was youthful and tanned, his eyes a sparkling blue and his hair sandy blonde.
“Mind your Pokemon!” He shouted, and Alaska snapped out of her daydream to find Darwin had slipped out of her clutches without her noticing, scaling the wall towards a vase on top of a decorative marble column.
“DARWIN!” Alaska screamed, and the Mankey froze a few feet away.
“Man Man Man Man Man!” He squawked, but Alaska and Paige both shot him a steely glare, and Darwin let out an angry sigh, leaping off the wall and back onto Alaska’s shoulder that nearly sent her toppling, if the man hadn’t given her a hand.
“Your Pokemon seems a bit restless there,” the handsome said, giving Alaska a sparkling smile as he helped her upright. “It could very well be his nature: is he Naughty or Rash by any chance?”
“I have no idea what that means,” Alaska admitted, the two walking up the last few steps together. “I am not really knowledgeable about some of this Pokemon stuff, I just set out to train them and win badges.”
“Ah, like most trainers I’ve met,” the man laughed. “Learning your Pokemon’s natures can help you work out how to train them and where their strengths lie. If you have a PokeDex, that could tell you, otherwise see a scientist or Pokemon Doctor. You know when it could be helpful,” he continued, and Alaska nodded, actually rather interested. She stared at Paige’s attentive and loyal face and than at Darwin’s distracted and slightly twitchy glare: maybe there was some nature behind them that could help her out with training them and gaining an upper hand on the reality stars.
“I’m Mark, Mark Hansom, by the way,” the man said as they headed down the corridor into the fossil section, passing by a multicoloured metal shield as they did so. “I am on the Board of Directors here and helped to organise this exhibit.”
“Yes you are,” Alaska said, thinking it was in her head, admiring how wonderfully his name matched him.
“Excuse me?” Mark said in surprise, and Alaska stopped dead in her tracks, Paige and Darwin giggling on her shoulders.
“I said, I saw your name on the poster when I came in,” Alaska explained quickly, slurring her words slightly. “I’m Alaska Acevedo, and I’m just on my journey.” Mark’s eyes widened slightly as she said her name, but she blinked and they were back to normal, though there was a look across his face that definitely showed interest.
“Well hello then Alaska,” he said, leading her further inside the fossil exhibit. Alaska, Paige and even Darwin began to stare around at the amazing things on display. Around fifty glass cabinets were placed around the room, ranging from ones you could stare down into to ones set into the wall, each one containing either one or two large fossils or about a dozen smaller ones. Photos, descriptions and text were placed on stands next to each cabinet, and a text and photos about the excavation process had been put on the wall. Several interactive screens were going around the room, groups of children giggling as they pressed the buttons, but the thing that attracted Alaska’s attention the most was a gigantic banner right above her, jogging a few memories of things she had learnt back at school.
Several Pokemon had been painted on there, the image truly spectacular. It showed a clawed Kabutops crawling out from the ocean, scythes raised threateningly, as an army of Kabuto and Omanyte crawled out from behind. A single Omanstar was on top of a rock, tentacles wriggling and waving, calling out into the night. And at the very top of the banner, an Aerodactyl was swooping out of the sky, mouth open wide with teeth bared, wings stretched wide with sharp claws raised deviously. The prehistoric scene was dark and stormy, with a bolt of lightning drawn in the backdrop, and the foliage that surrounded was all dark green and ghostly looking.
The banner seemed so life like that Alaska remembered another horror movie she had watched with her father, involving an Aerodactyl coming back to life and terrorising a small town. The movie monster had scared her terribly back then, and Alaska could feel a bit of a shiver staring into the malicious eyes and gaping black mouth.
“I seriously hope you guys never bring one of those things back to life,” Alaska said to Mark, who chuckled. “I swear that thing would be able to pull you to bits and feast on my flesh within a few seconds!”
“Well, if we manage to bring one back to life, we’ll make sure nothing bad happens like that,” Mark laughed. “It is a Water type, so we’ll have plenty of Pokemon on standby.”
“Have you ever brought a fossil Pokemon back to life before?”
“We were planning too, after we found the Old Amber, Dome Fossil and Helix Fossil needed to bring Aerodactyl, Kabuto and Omanyte back respectively,” Mark explained, looking a bit frustrated as he said it. “The technology was ready and waiting all the way on Cinnabar Island, but then…” Alaska made an ‘aah’ sound, seeing where this was going. Cinnabar Island had erupted several years ago, coating the entire island in molten lava that began to set. It was no simply a giant, bare brown lump in the middle of the ocean, a place people avoided in fear of an eruption happening again.
“But don’t you still have the fossils?” Alaska asked as they walked past displays of fossilised Pidgey feathers and Rattata skeletons. Several elderly women smiled at Alaska, and she noticed a young couple making out behind a cabinet, clearly not here for the educational purposes.
“I would like to say so, as I kept the fossils on my after the eruption. But I stored them in my car during another incident, and I returned to find my car had been destroyed. I don’t know what happened to the fossils, as we didn’t find any remnants of them, but we have teams searching Mt Moon for whatever is left,” Mark explained sadly. He stopped in front of another cabinet, and Alaska turned to investigate. Three things were on display: one was a slightly lump orange-red oval, the other two looked like mounds of rock with different things (one a hill, the other a spiral) carved into them.
“Copies of the fossils?” Alaska asked, looking up and staring into the handsome man’s eyes. Mark nodded, looking rather pained as he stared at the copies, and Alaska could understand why: to come so close to turning a pile of rock into a living, breathing thing only to have it destroyed must be a horrible feeling. “I’m sure you’ll be able to find some more fossils, there have to be some lying around somewhere.”
“I sure hope so,” Mark said, smiling down at her. “I just wish Mt Moon hadn’t caved in and we lost half of the area to explore. It is a real bitch digging up the same area time after time,” and Alaska began laughing. She ignored Paige as she began jabbering away in her ear, enjoying her little bonding moment with Mark.
“PIDGE!” Paige squawked, cuffing Alaska over the head with a wing.
“What?” Alaska snapped back, turning to look at her, but quickly froze.
A man was standing a few metres in front of them. He was wearing a long black coat and a black hat, hiding his features from them all. An Electrode was besides the man, sparking angrily at Darwin, who had leapt off of Paige’s shoulder and had his hands raised in a combat pose.
However, Alaska’s eyes were firmly set on the gun clasped in the man’s pale hands, and she began to wish an Aerodactyl would swoop out of the false amber behind her and whisk her away, not wanting to know what would happen next.
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