From: Marco262 (marco262@yahoo.com)
Subject: [PW!] A free trip
Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon
Date: 2000/06/21
Darian had been to all of the boat companies and not a single one
had any boats for rent. Not even a surfing Rhydon. Completely exhausted
from traveling back and forth between shops, Darian collapsed on the
ground right outside the last boat shop he had been to. Pardus, who had
been hitching a free ride on Darian's shoulders, jumped off right before
the youth hit the ground. Concerned for his friend, the Persian
carefully approached him and meowed softly in his his ear.
"I'm alright, Pardus," groaned Darian, forcing himself up into a
sitting position, "Just really tired." He back leaned on his hands and
stared up at the beautiful summer sky. Pardus curled up at his feet. He
could recognize when his master was about to go into a thoughtful state,
and experience told him that, although usually extended, it was best not
to disturb him.
Darian blinked as a speck of pollen landed in his eye. His worn out
clothes looked much less suave than they had been when he bought them,
almost six months ago. He made a mental note to develop a temporary
wardrobe someday before he left here. Slowly, he floated back into the
solitary recesses of his mind and contemplated this year's events. It
had gone by surprisingly quickly, and he was a little confused about the
uneventfulness of his stay in this dimension. In most of his other
missions, they made sure his stay was very brief, as emotional
attachment to any part of the mission could be disastrous. Maybe they
wanted him to learn more about this universe, he thought. He had to
admit, the physics and the unusual natural life were astounding.
Powerful forces, some found only in the occasional apocalypse, were
encountered regularly in small creatures, most no bigger than knee-high
to a human. Not to mention the low amount of casualties in human and
pokémon alike when these forces were unleashed in the hundreds of
battles that happened every day. He made another mental note to study up
on the mechanics of pokéballs. Most devices he'd seen that converted
matter to energy were bigger than a warehouse, and even then they were
only able to convert 50% of the matter efficiently and anything involved
in the process became highly radioactive. Pokéballs were not only able
to do this with zero energy loss, they were also able to do this with
living things and later reform to energy back into the organism without
even the slightest it of exhaustion. In fact, most pokémon became
healthier within the pokéball.
Darian sighed. All this would happen in due course, but right now,
he wished something interesting would happen. Opening his eyes, he
looked up at the clouds overhead. One drifted directly above him that
looked like a man eating a slice of pizza. Another right next to it
looked exactly like a giant muffin. Directly beneath those, an amorphous
one held an uncanny resemblance to a cluster of suspended water and ice
particles. He smiled to himself. "You always were the literalist," he
thought. Drifting into sleep, he drowsily noted a cloud that looked like
a Mankey, hurling through the air. He yawned and closed his eyes,
feeling the soft grass under him.
*THWUMP*
"What the hell...Get it off me! Get it off me! Help!"
Pardus jerked awake. Looking up, he saw Darian dancing about,
grappling at a large clump of white fuzz that completely covered
Darian's face. Pardus leaped up and began prying away at the four brown
protrusions that kept the clump firmly attached to Darian's head.
Finally getting it free, Darian held it out at arm's length taking
several deep breaths before focusing on what he held in his hands.
Staring in utter fright back at him, was a Mankey. Its eyes were
wide open and its pupils had shrunken almost completely out of sight. It
was shivering violently, causing Darian's arms to shake.
"Ha ha! It works! It works!" A large, portly man in a pinstripe suit
and a long trench coat came bounding over the hill towards Darian.
Smiling broadly he adjusted his monocle and winked at Darian. "Quite
neighborly of ya for catching Guinea Pig for me, young man."
Darian was lost for words, as he had found himself to be many times
whenever meeting someone new here. The man swept up the Mankey in his
arms and carried on jovially, reveling in his own brilliance. "I'll be
famous!" he said to the terrified Mankey, who's name was apparently
Guinea Pig. "They say Bill came up with the perfect way to transport
pokémon, but I've improved on it! Computers are too expensive, oh yes!
And they use up too much energy too! But my Pokécatapult will solve all
those problems!" He held the recovering Guinea Pig up to the sky and his
face turned beet red in excitement. "I'll be better known than Einstein,
for famous than Billy Holiday, more widely revered than Santa Claus!"
Tucking Guinea Pig under his plump arm, the man shook Darian's hand
gleefully. "I thank you again for catching Guinea Pig. If there's
anything I can do for you, just name it." Darian scratched his head in
thought and glanced at Guinea Pig. It had recovered completely from its
trip and was clawing and biting fiercely at the man's sleeve. Darian
looked into the man's smiling face. He seemed not the least bit
concerned that his outfit was being turned into confetti.
Darian shook his head and sighed. "Well," he said finally, "I could
really use a boat to get to Cinnabar."
The man's smile disappeared and he shook his head sadly. "Sorry
young one, but boats are becoming so hard to come by these days, that I
can't just give one away." Darian slumped dejectedly and nodded his
thanks. He was just about to pick up Pardus and move on when the man
stopped him. "You know," he said, stroking his chin, "If you do me
another favor, I might be able to relinquish a small yacht to you."
Darian smiled and turned to the man. "Sure just name it."
"Take a quick trip to Celadon and get me an Eevee." The man smiled.
"I've always wanted an Eevee, but I've been too busy with my inventions
to take the time off."
Darian nodded and called out Ćther. Climbing onto the Fearow's back,
he whispered into his ear. "To Celadon, and step on it." With a few
graceful flaps of its wings, Ćther was soon gliding effortlessly toward
eastern horizon.
The man watched them fly off into the distance, and then shifted
Guinea Pig under his other arm. The man spoke softly to himself as the
Mankey continued destroying the man's coat with a new vigor. "I wonder
if I should have told him about the troubles in Celadon." He shook his
head. "Nah, he'll figure it out himself."
TBC...
