From: Shard Fields or Megasomething <goola2u@aol.compostheap> Subject: [PW!] [NC] [TS] A Little Bit of Courage (Working title: The Hunt) Date: Thursday, January 20, 2000 12:14 PM (OOC: Yes, folks, the Triforce Saga continues!) Months, now, and nothing. Each volume of lore yielded no clue as to the sages, or the Triforce. Dreadite practicing his swordsmanship and magic left Shard to fulfil the important part of the quest: actually knowing what was going on. And he tried. Oh yes he tried. He even sought his fortune in the Triforce pieces he had been gifted with. "Oh, Triforce of knowledge, though only two of the fragments are here, I seek council from you," beseeched Shard." "Speak, demand, we'll answer," said the first piece. "What we know is yours to know," the other had added. "Then tell me, Wisdom, when will I be free of my burdens? When will my enemies cease their unjustified pursuit? When will my life be simple again?" "I cannot see so far," responded the first piece. "Nor can I," added the second, "but I doubt it will ever come to pass, for you, or for any." Then the worst thing had happened. Scrapper had popped out of his pokeball , and went into one of the Triforce pieces. The Porygon left the relic soon enough, but that piece was still a funny color. "Great," said Shard, "it's tainted now, isn't it?" He turned the piece upside-down to see the word "Yes." "Great, how do I fix it?" This time, the answer he received was "Answer hazy, try again later." So he had come here to the Saffron City Gym, in hopes that some book within the bizarre walls of the structure would contain the secrets he needed. Shard did not like the look of the Abra he passed when he entered. He went to kick it, but it teleported out of the way. Shard walked over, and tried again, with a similar result. This went on for a fairly long amount of time. Then Shard noticed the pattern. With a devious grin, he kicked where he thought the Abra would appear next. He smiled sadistically as his foot collided with the small pokemon, with a very satisfying cracking noise, which Shard hoped belonged to a rib. "Pass that on to Sabrina for me," smirked Shard as the Abra fell to the floor, writhing and whimpering in excruciating pain. Sabrina scowled. She knew Shard was here. And he was fated to come to her. She would have to destroy him quickly, with no time to savor his pain... Or he might be able to escape, or maybe even triumph over the special challenges she had created to seek and destroy him, and then she would have to give him the prize that had drawn him here. Shard, oblivious to all this, walked into the library. He painstakingly scanned the shelf, looking for any books that might be of some use, any use. A cookbook, which might have some uses for the huge amounts of sage that he and Dreadite had accumulated, but not much else. At the end of the isle, however, there was something interesting. An Alakazam, a Slowbro, and a Hypno, each with a peculiar purple gem, with an ebony eye painted on it, on their forehead. "Well," said Shard, "Sabrina must have sent you. Three mindless drones shouldn't be a problem, though..." "Only three little problems with that theory," said the Alakazam with a diabolical grin. "One, we're not mindless: hello, we're psychic types, you moron! Our mind is our main weapon! Two, we're not drones: I'm ego, the Slowbro is Id, and the Hypno is Superego; I'm not Unit SA-65 or anything. And three... Problem is my middle name!" "Id DESTROY!" shouted the Slowbro. The Hypno just glared at Shard menacingly, though he could have sworn that he heard "Enter Sandman" in the background when he looked at that Hypno. Shard turned to run, but Ego was in from of him, all across his field of vision, in effect creating a wall of motion. Shard turned to run the other way, but there was that Hypno. Shard barely managed to duck out of the way as the Hypno swung his pendant at Shard, the string extending like a grappling hook. The pendant instead wrapped around a nearby chair, while Shard escaped. Running as fast as he could, Shard didn't see Id until he heard the shout. "ID CRUSH ROCKET!" shouted the Slowbro, loud enough to wake all of Lavender Town. Shard rolled out of the way just before the Slowbro could launch a torrential Hydro Pump attack. Running into the next isle, Shard pushed over the bookshelf. The books fell to the floor as the bookshelf fell, knocking over the next, and that taking the one after it, in a giant domino effect. Even after that, however, the Slowbro was still standing, and did NOT look happy. Shard and Id glared into each other's hate-filled eyes. Then the Slowbro flinched, as though hit by a tremendous force. "Oww... Id feel like world fall on top." With that, the Slowbro fell to the floor. Shard had forgotten: it takes a Slowbro at least five seconds, and sometime as much as five hours, to feel pain. Shard had little time to celebrate, however. In barely enough time to blink, he was surrounded by a ring of Alakazams. The minute Shard even thought that maybe he could jump out, the ring became a dome. "You may have toppled Id," laughed the dome, "but I'm still more than you can handle!" Shard realized now that this wasn't a dome, but just one Alakazam, moving at an incredible speed, even for one of the fastest pokemon in existence. Shard was trapped. There was no way he could get out, no way he could get away from something so fast. It's amazing that thing didn't trip over something. Shard smiled as his put his ankle out into the Alakazam's path. It stung Shard like Misreebell, but he presumed that the Alakazam, who had slid halfway across the library, was in at least as much pain. Not really caring, Shard limped away as fast as he could. Between Shard and the exit, however was that Hypno, complete with cliched background music. "Goin' somewhere?" asked the Hypno in a near-whisper. Shard turned, and there was the Alakazam, coming at him at a mind-boggling speed, kicking up fallen books like dust as he went. Shard leapt out of the way at the last minute, and Ego plowed into Superego, knocking both out. For effect, Shard caught one of the books which was falling. He looked, however, and that was the book he was looking for: "The Legend of the Triforce". Undaunted be the unrealistic nature of this occurrence, Shard walked out the door, and down the hall. Shard thought he knew the layout of the building. After half an hour or so of wandering, however, Shard conceded to himself that he had no idea how to get out. He turned around to see an Exeggutor and a Mr. Mime. As he walked closer, he saw the same crystals on their heads as were on the heads of the three pokemon he had fought in the library. Shard just stared. That is, until he got conked on the head by a coconut that the Exeggutor had launched. "What are you staring at?" asked the Exeggutor. "Okay, who are you?" asked Shard, rubbing his sore head. "I'm Penn," said the Exeggutor, "and he's Teller. He's my silent partner. We're here to keep you from making Sabrina any more POed than she already is. 'Cause ya know how she gets when she's cranky." The mime simply nodded in agreement. "Bring it on, fern face," said Shard, despite the fact that he was more than a little nervous. A coconut sped towards Shard, launched from the top of the Exeggutor with an almost comical *pop*. Shard dodged, only to hear another pop, meaning another coconut headed his way. As the pace of the barrage increased, Shard began getting tired out. The heavy tome he carried wasn't helping, either. Suddenly, Shard had an idea. With all the strength he could muster, he swung the book, knocking a coconut back at the two. It sped right towards the mime, but bounced off an invisible wall, headed at a breakneck speed towards Shard. This time he made sure he aimed for Penn. He swung with all his might, and ran passed the Exeggutor as its heads tried to figure out how to climb back onto its body. The mime that accompanied it finally realized that it could put them back on, but by that time, Shard had already disappeared down the hallway, into a dark room. "Welcome," said Sabrina. "I've been waiting for you, Sage of Chaos." "How did you know that?" asked Shard. "While you are within my reach," said Sabrina, "all your knowledge is open to me. "Ah Muk," said Shard, "I almost forgot you were psychic." Sabrina just smile her cruel smile. "So, now," she said coldly, "time to play. The stakes are higher than ever, now." "We play for keeps, as usual," said Shard, also distant. Sabrina just nodded. "Let the games begin," said Shard with a twisted, slightly nervous smile. A Jynx and a Starmie, each bearing the familiar crystal, though the Starmie's was mounted instead at the center of its normal crystal. "Meet Selene and Centauri," smiled Sabrina, "The final two of the challenges I've made for you. Should you win, you'll get the little toy that drew you here. Should you fail, well, I'm going to spell it out for you: M-I-S-B." Shard recognized the term. He'd seen MISB Transformers, toys he desperately wanted, go for outlandish prices, enough to make even Giovanni shudder at the expense. And yet, he hated the thought of himself MISB even more. What does MISB stand for? Simple: Mint in Sealed Box. Knowing Sabrina, that would also involve a lot of twisty ties, and whatever other degrading packaging elements she could think of. Shard HATED twisty ties. "I accept!" he said, against his better judgement. "You honestly thought I had given you an option?" said Sabrina with a cruel smile. Shard had no time to respond, as the Starmie was already spiraling towards him. He dived out of the way, only to land at the feet of the Jynx. "Gimme a kiss!" she said, hoisting Shard to his feet. The Jynx was about to use her inappropriately-named "Lovely kiss" attack. His arms pinned to his sides, Shard had only one chance, he knew, but he had no idea what it was. Fortunately, his reflexes took care of it for him. What did he do? He did what anyone that was about to be kissed by a Jynx would do: lose his lunch. "Gross!" shouted Selene, dropping Shard to the floor, and running off in tears. Shard just stood up, covered in Jynx slobber, as well as his own vomit. Fortunately, he was cleaned off, though almost drowned, by a Hydro Pump attack. Shard turned to face the source of the attack. "Twinkle, twinkle, little Starmie," he said, slightly dazed. "Prepare for justice, thou green-haired fiend," said the Starmie unwaveringly. Shard realized it now. The Jynx was a symbol of vice, and the Starmie one of virtue. Coincidence, maybe. Helpful, maybe not... But Sabrina couldn't siphon anything useful from his mind while his thoughts were off on tangents. Shard tried to think, to figure out what would be useful against this armored adversary. Then he had an idea. "Good star, do you know of the deeds of thy lady?" asked Shard. "They are, I will have you know, much akin to witchcraft, noble star." The ruse worked. The Starmie stopped, a bit confuse, for a little while. It was, at least, long enough for Shard to throw the heavy tome he'd been carrying at the gem at the jeweled monstrosity's core. It cracked, causing the Starmie immense pain. "I yield! Spare me, I beg of you!" pleaded Centauri. "All right," replied Sabrina, "you won. I think this might be of interest to you." A piece of the Triforce levitated towards Shard. It looked nothing like the Wisdom pieces Shard had, but was immediately recognizable to the Sage of Chaos. "A piece of the Triforce of Courage," said hunter and hunted in unison, Sabrina's cold voice a bleak counterpoint to the awe in Shard's. "This is your virtue. I will let you go," said Sabrina. To illustrate what was going on, the piece of Courage hovered over to Shard, stopping in from of him barely a second before ingraining itself in his heart. Shard found himself back in Celadon, the once-waterlogged tome he carried as fresh as if it had just been printed. But, more importantly, he felt a new glow around him. He felt as though he could take on the world. Well, why not? TBC? Shard Fields, hoping his ex doesn't ever stumble across this... The Jynx is loosely based on her. ^_^;; .sig not included. Shard Fields on AGNP Megasomething on ATT