From: Spawn <nmvds@aol.computers> Subject: [PW!] CE: Azure Heights Break In, Prologue Date: Saturday, February 12, 2000 1:24 AM Standard Disclaimor: This story is a pseudo-NC. Meaning that absolutely nothing in this story will affect anyone except from Steve Fugues in typical continuity of PW!. This story has Steve traveling to an alternate dimension. As such, he will be affected. But no one else will because their existence in this dimension is completely independent of their existence in the rest of PW! Recap: Last time we were here, a few people were fighting each other in the tournament. Team Rocket has discovered the Pokemon League's plans to capture the legendary birds and plans to act accordingly. **************** "Stupid TV," Steve muttered as he fiddled with a few cables, "work, damn you. Work. All the technology of Team Rocket available at my fingertips, and we can't even get decent reception here. Oh yeah, it's real comforting putting my life into these people's hands." Steve glanced over at the TV as he watched the League battle free-for-all taking place. It had only been going on for a few hours, but in a way it felt like it had carried on for months. Person after person fell. Trainers. Gym leaders. Elite Four members. It didn't really matter, anyone could lose under the right situations. Including him. And that was not a comforting thought. There had been a number of interesting battles that day. But none of it really mattered. Not to him, anyway, not to the cause. In the long run, the whole thing was supposed to be a diversion. Nothing more. A little something to distract the league and give the resistance a chance to sneak in to foil their current plan. So much bloodshed for so little reason. From the comfort of his seat, all of this fighting seemed meaningless. Well, almost meaningless. Steve starred as the camera panned towards Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak, quite possibly two of the greatest pokemon trainers of all time. Of course, Ash's abilities had more to do with abnormal pokemon than genuine skill. Steve might have lost his memory so many months ago, but he still knew of the legends of how Ash's pokemon somehow won under the most ridiculous of conditions. Of course, that was the Ash Ketchum from his own world. This new pocket dimension he somehow landed in, this counter Earth, was completely different. For one thing, the Pokemon League was an oppressive organization and Team Rocket was on the side of good with Ash on their side. Go figure. The two trainers were battered, beaten. They had been fighting for hours, spending the entire time trying to kill each other. Was this what the entire battle boiled down to? A few pointless bruises and cuts? Steve watched as the sweat dripped down Ash's face and the camera switched back towards Gary. Gary Oak. Now a sworn enemy of the cause he had been fighting for. Was he really that bad of a guy? Steve wondered about that sometimes. Heck, when he thought about it, he had even been to the Oak home before. Back when he… No. Steve didn't want to think about it. Not now. It was far too depressing. And so, after hours of watching TV, Steve finally turned the screen off. He didn't need to watch any longer. It's not like he was helping anyone there at all. Or like they were helping him. The resistance was holding their own, and that's all that mattered. He had more important things to worry about. Besides, the reception wasn't that good, anyway. "Steve, come over here," Blind Tom suddenly shouted. "I have something to show you." Steve found Tom working on a large terminal and an even larger display. On the screen was a map of Pokemon Island. "I've noticed that a lot of mechanical equipment has been malfunctioning lately," Tom explained, "so I ran some tests. There have been serious fluctuations to Earth's magnetic field lately." "What does this mean?" Steve asked. "It means that I may finally understand how the Pokemon League is going to try to capture the birds," Tom continued. "See, birds have internal magnetic mechanisms in their brains designed to act as navigational system. Somehow, Gil Bates is manipulating that principle to a level I can't even comprehend in order to lead the legendary birds to him without attracting regular flying types and with minimal disturbance to the Earth itself." "Minimal?" Steve asked. "Minimal in terms of how much disturbance one would expect from the amount of power necessary," Tom explained. "Unfortunately, our equipment obviously was never designed for this specific task, so I can't bring up much on the specifics. Not that it matters much, anyway. However, I have managed to use satellites to track down the high amounts of elemental energy from the birds in order to figure out their locations over the past few hours." Tom began to type rapidly on the terminal. The computer was like a second home for him. While the keys weren't in Braille, he intuitively knew their location from years of experience the same way a regular person would know to ride a bicycle without even thinking about it. When the other kids in his school were training pokemon, Tom had his adventures coding programs. On the screen, an imprint of colors emerged, records of the effects legendary power the birds had on the atmosphere. "This is a chart for Articuno and Zapdos," Tom said. "Now, watch what happens when I account for inacuracies caused by distortions to the magnetic field and extrapolating a flight path based on the assumed destination of Azure Heights. Tell me if you see anything interesting." A broad red line extended from their original locations to the Azure Heights facility. The birds would fly from town to town, both of them eventually passing right near by… "The League tournament," Steve muttered. "They're all going to be in the way." The League was trying to capture the birds, trying to manipulate the very forces of nature and control their power. Control something that no man should be able to. Now it looked like they would get exactly what they wanted sooner than they thought. "That's what I was scared of," said Tom. "I'm going to send this report over to Giovanni so that he can warn the others. In the mean time, we have problems of our own to worry about." "Problems?" Steve wondered. "Like what? Moltres? " "Azure Heights. The best way to stop a problem is to get right to the source." "So I'm going to have to break into this place and somehow shut whatever devices they're using down?" "No," Tom corrected, "you're not going. We're going. By all accounts, Azure Heights is one of the most heavily secure areas in the world. You'll need all the help you can get. "No offense Tom, but you're blind. And you're not exactly a physical heavyweight. How exactly do you plan on helping?" "You'll see." ********** TBC Beth, Raven, etc., you might as well start fending off the legendary birds now. -Spawn To reply, remove "puters" from the e-mail address.