From: Adrian Tymes <wingcat@pacbell.net> Subject: [PW!] Air Aerie Date: Tuesday, January 18, 2000 11:53 PM #Hot, cold, it's all in the mind. When you seek, you're sure to find. Jewel or dirt, pokemon 'n' mankind, To get closer, just remember this rhyme.# Aerie smiled at the nostalgia that brought. It had been a training motto back...sometime before she was ten; her early childhood memories were a bit of a blur. And the lesson was still as relevant, even if she never did learn quite the words to express it to one who had not experienced it. #Seth is near...Seth is this way...Seth is WHOA!# She backpedalled away from the cliff edge she had nearly walked off in her half-trance. Peering over the edge, she saw a building below with roof damage - and judging from the tiles on the edge that were still wobbling a bit from the impact, probably fairly recent. #When finding someone who has no reason to hide, look for the crowds. The act of damaging property attracts crowds.# She looked around for a bit, self-conscious at how she intended to get down, and saw no one. Whatever crowds the impact below had attracted were probably inside, if they had not already dispersed. She backed up several steps... #Here...# ...ran towards the cliff... #...we...# ...and leapt off in a perfect swan dive. #...GO!# After somersaulting a bit, wings snapped out of her back to stabilize her flight. On a whim, she tried holding this partial transformation while gliding downwards, swooping from side to side while trying to get a fix on Seth. ****** "Mommy, look! An angel!" "Now, now, dear. Mommy's busy." "Look, Mommy!" "Ok, ok, I'm..." "It's an angel, isn't it?" She knew it had to be a fake. These things were always fakes. Her life was made disproving paranormal theories (or confirming them) - everyone knew that ghost pokemon existed, but there were some far out theories as to just what they were and were capable of. Some people went to elaborate lengths to set up hoaxes; her mission in life was to debunk 'em all. "Isn't it?" But Goddish be darned if this wasn't one of the best setups she'd ever seen. Quickly reaching for her camera, she set to taking pictures. Even when she found out just how this was really being done, she knew the visuals from this would still be impressive. They might even sell her next book. ****** For some reason, Aerie thought she was being watched. A quick look around failed to spot any observers, but between her feeling and the fact that it was difficult to maintain lift with fearow wings on an unaerodynamic frame (no matter how beautiful or smooth, the human body just was not made to fly under its own power), not to mention the difficulty of keeping up a partial transformation as its own shape, she soon folded completely into a bird pokemon and dove for the school. An avian landed; a diglett disappeared into the building's ventilation ducts.