From: Karnivax (karnivax@my-deja.com)
Subject: [PW!] Beginning Anew
Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon
Date: 2000/06/20
(OOC: Hey everybody! After more than three and a half months of PW!
down-time, I've returned much earlier than I said I would. I just...
couldn't...take it...any longer! ^^;;; This time around, things are
going to be...well, not much different. But at least I'm not putting
the titles inside the stories any more... ^_^ I'll be renewing my WGs
shortly.)
*DING-DONG.* *DING-DONG.*
A male Scyther was struggling to scrub his Scyther blades clean in
the bathroom sink when he heard the doorbell ring. "Espio?" he called
out. "Would you get that?"
The lazy white Charizard groaned as he had to pull himself away
from an episode of "Clerks." He slowly arose from the Italian leather
recliner in Kyle's living room and strode to the front door. The white
dragon looked into the peephole. His face brightened. He quickly
unlocked and opened the door. His greeting was a simple "Um, hi."
"Good to see you again too, Espio," came the response. In stepped
a rather dingy-looking blue Scyther female. A black leather belt was
wrapped loosely around the top of her insectoid abdomen. The belt held
a Pokédex and ten Pokéballs, six of which displayed the letter J. "I'm
hooome!" the curvaceous mantid announced.
The male Scyther did not even bother to finish cleaning his blades
before he rushed out of the bathroom. "Jessica!" he exclaimed. His
translucent wings flapping madly, he nearly cut off more than just the
female Scyther's circulation as he hugged her. "It's been too long!"
"Hey, I've missed you just as much, Kyle..." Jessica Sullivan
gasped as Kyle Richter relaxed his grip. She smiled.
Kyle took a step back and allowed his girlfriend some air. "So,
how did 'obedience school' go?" he queried. Espio sat back down in
the recliner and continued watching television.
Jessica carefully knocked from her belt the four Pokéballs that
lacked the letter J. Kyle daintily scooped the Pokéballs up in his
blades. The female Scyther took a deep breath, then started her
report: "There didn't seem to be anything wrong with Tassadar. In
fact, he was one of the most loyal Pokémon I've ever had the pleasure
of training. You should definitely try to find a spot for him on your
main team."
"Which one's Tassadar?" Kyle wondered.
"You know...your Alakazam," Jessica responded, somewhat surprised.
"I never gave him a name," Kyle protested.
"Then where did I..." Jessica shook her head, then continued on
with the report. "I've succeeded in teaching Thanatos how to use his
psychic powers without having that guitar of his around. He got really
broken up about it at first, but he adapted nicely. I even taught him
to stay in his Pokéball."
"That's good."
Jessica went on: "Leviathan...um...I can't promise anything
about. I worked with him for about three weeks. He cracked under my
training regimen and promised he'd listen to you from now on...but...I
don't know, I just didn't sense...sincerity. It's like he was just
telling me what I wanted to hear."
"Uh...okay..." Kyle responded.
"Thanks to a lot of help from Tendril, I'm happy to say that
Rampage is finally usable," Jessica proudly stated. "It took more than
a month and a half, but Tendril was able to Vine Whip the killer
instinct right out of that Rhydon. Now, if the thought of killing
something even crosses his mind, this...sickness...comes over him. Not
a pretty sight. I'll happily trade you Rampage for Leviathan or
Seaclamp, if you want to give Rampage another chance..."
"Ehhh, I think I'll pass," Kyle replied. "So, what about Daggoth?"
"Oh yes. Daggoth," Jessica said with a bit of arsenic in her
tone. "Kyle, that Nidoking is positively hopeless. Being the host for
Vorge must have completely fried his brain. I worked with him for
three weeks without making one iota of progress. He won't obey even
the simplest of orders. All he wants to do is brag about his impending
domination of the world and make love to Kerrigan."
"Oh well," Kyle sighed. "We may have to take Doctor Eckert up on
his offer after all..." He thought about where he had put Doctor
Eckert's card.
Jessica added one last thing: "And by the way, Nurse Joy in Indigo
Plateau told me that Kerrigan should be laying her eggs any day now."
"I guess I'll have to contact Jeanette Fischer then too," Kyle
said. He hoped that he would not ultimately have to explain to
Jeanette why he had become a Scyther. It had been tough enough
explaining both his and Jessica's stories to his father, Professor
James Richter. The Professor had taken the news of Kyle's gesture of
affection for Jessica quite well, however, as he was confident in
Bill's ability to restore everything to normal. Eventually.
It had been roughly four months since Kyle and Jessica's last
visit to Bill's lighthouse in Cerulean, where the duo had confronted
the enigmatic lifeform known as Imakuni?, and where Kyle had
volunteered to be turned into his current state. From there, Kyle and
Jessica rode Espio to Kyle's home in Cinnabar, where Jessica quickly
moved in.
Torrasque's long-overdue funeral had come and gone; the Scyther
had been buried at sea. Torrasque's mate Atropos, in spite of her only
knowing Torrasque for a few months, was still having quite a bit of
difficulty getting over the loss.
Professor Richter had managed to save the whole Cinnabar Island
Laboratories from having their funds cut by the diabolical benefactor
known as Diedrich Starke. Starke had commissioned the Professor to
create for him a "super-Scyther" some time ago, but he had not been
satisfied with his investment until just recently. After failing to
please Starke with Torrasque and Atropos in the past, the Professor
developed a third genetically-engineered talking Scyther, a dark purple
female which he named Sekhmet. In actuality, Sekhmet was no more
powerful than her predecessors, but the Professor was able to fool
Starke into thinking otherwise with a well-choreographed display of
Sekhmet's abilities. In front of Starke, Sekhmet fought and defeated a
whole team of fully-evolved Pokémon that had been told to lose. Starke
was impressed enough by the charade to purchase Sekhmet and to continue
pouring funds into the laboratories.
Jessica had spent only a few weeks in Kyle's home before leaving
on a three-month training journey. Jessica spent most of her journey
in the secluded mountains near Victory Road, where she attempted to
make loyalists out of the five most disobedient Pokémon that she and
Kyle shared. Using the vines of her Victreebel, Tendril, as choke
chains of sorts, Jessica had been largely successful. Kyle had spent
his time apart from Jessica by raising Cathode, the young Pikachu that
had once been Torrasque's beloved pet. Cathode was now an active
member of Kyle's team.
It was now the middle of June. Kyle and Jessica had missed each
other's birthdays, but both had subtly bought presents. Wanting to
occupy Jessica somehow while he fetched her belated birthday present,
Kyle offered, "So, you want anything to eat? Or a drink, maybe?"
"If you want some Pepsi, we've just about got the market
cornered," Espio added.
"Sure, I'll have some Pepsi," Jessica responded.
Kyle headed into the kitchen, opened the fridge, and then just
sort of stared at the numerous Pepsi bottles inside. "Um, Espio?" he
said. "Little help, please?"
Espio got up from the recliner a second time. He shambled into
the kitchen, took one of the Pepsi bottles, and poured Jessica a
glass. "I pray every day to the Pokégods that you guys get cured real
soon," Espio grunted as he handed Jessica the glass of soda. As the
Charizard once again returned to the recliner, the phone on the kitchen
wall rang. "Don't you lovebugs trouble yourselves, I'll get it," Espio
said dryly. He picked up the phone. "Hello?" There was a pause as
the caller introduced themselves. Espio responded, "Well, speak of the
devil. Hold on a sec." He held the phone out. "Kyle, it's for you."
Kyle was on his way to get Jessica's birthday present when he was
interrupted by the phone call. He clumsily took the phone from Espio,
then held it between his left shoulder and the left side of his
head. "Hello?" Kyle said.
"Kyle, this is Bill," came the answer.
"Bill!" Kyle responded. "Uh...why would you call me?"
"Kyle, I have good - no, *great* - news," Bill announced. "I've
rebuilt the Telepods. And they're working better than ever! I've run
diagnostics day and night. I've tested them at least ten times. Heck,
I've even gone through them myself!" There was a period of silence,
then Kyle heard a strange mechanical whirring sound over the phone for
a few seconds. Bill added, "Just listen to 'em purr!"
Kyle was speechless. This was almost too good - and implausible -
a coincidence to believe.
"So get yourself and Jessica over here whenever! So help me
Goddish, I'm going to cure all the people whose lives I've ruined!"
"We...we'll be there soon," a rather stunned Kyle replied. The
two said their goodbyes, and Kyle hung up the phone. He quickly headed
to his room and got together a pile of his human clothes. He also took
the Pokéball containing Jessica's birthday present and attached it to
the belt he was already wearing.
"What was the phone call about?" Jessica asked as she sipped her
Pepsi and watched Kyle pick up a pen in his teeth and start to write
his father a note.
"Grab your clothes," Kyle responded after spending a minute
writing the note. "Espio, warm up those wings of yours. We're going
to visit Bill. And we're getting our humanity back!"
(OOC: Things will also be a lot shorter...)
--K * A * R * N * I * V * A * X--
"Some have said there is no subtlety to
destruction. You know what? They're dead."
--Jaya Ballard, task mage
