From: Maria Rocket <mobius101@aol.compactpika> Subject: [PW!] Caught in the Act Date: Thursday, January 20, 2000 4:01 AM A black wind danced though Celadon. It whistled though the tree lined streets, searching intently for the silent song only it could hear. One heartbeat. Two heartbeats. Three heartbeats. Swirling towards the sky, the wind finally met the young woman standing on the hotel balcony. Maria shivered. She drew her arms about herself as the cold winter air pulled viciously at her long jet black hair. She squinted upwards. "Sometimes I really hate the wind." There was the sound of sliding glass behind her. "Then why Maria stand out here in cold?" Maria turned to see his smiling face. "Oh, I don't know...something's bothering me, I guess." "What bother?" A shiver went down Maria's back. She turned around and stared at the hotel across the street. "I don't know...but suddenly I feel like I'm being watched." Mimic raised an eyebrow. "Mimic don't feel anything...maybe is hormones." "It's not hormones!" Maria snapped as she turned bright red. "Riiight..." The corner of Mimic's mouth went up in a very Seth-like grin. Or perhaps, it was the other way around... "Maria just feel strange in new clothes, maybe?" A free flowing rose-red dress reached down to Maria's shins. She hadn't the heart to dispose of her boots, and now, by her standards, she looked rather strange. She brushed at it slightly. "Well...it is taking some getting used to. But I suppose it'll hafta do for awhile. I just hope I don't have to do any major running anytime soon." "Maria just walk back inside until friends come...no catch ammonia." Giggling softly, Maria cleared the space between them in an instant. Mimic blinked in surprise as she threw her arms around him and buried her face against his shoulder. Not sure how to react as she began to rock him slowly back and forth, he drew his hands up against her back tentatively. He swallowed involuntarily. "Mimic," she whispered. "Do you have a dream?" "Mimic dream..." "Of what?" "...Mimic don't remember very well." "Oh." Maria slowly pulled her head from his shoulder and looked up at him. "That happens sometimes. I think I had one once...but then it changed along with me..." She looked down. "But now I can't make up my mind. Everytime I think about it, something in my mind switches around." She frowned. "Psychic influence?" Mimic's momentarily green eyes widened. "No, I've had my head screwed up that way before. This feels different." Maria sighed. "More like bad wiring." "Hmm..." "Or, maybe it's nothing more than hormones, like you said." Maria shrugged. "Like whatever I feel watching me now." Mimic surveyed the stars beginning to twinkle in the darkening sky above. "Maybe. Mimic no sense anything. And Mimic would feel if Maria under psychic control." He looked down at her. Actually, he could feel a trace of something...but he recognized Seth's psychic signature, despite some undeveloped variances. "Or maybe Maria have 'woman's intutition.'" He rolled his eyes off to the side, then back again in a lighthearted manner. "No need to worry. Mimic can turn into giant nightlight and scare away boogieman." Maria snickered and swiped at him playfully. "You're lucky I don't have a Pokeball on me right now..." Then she nodded. "Yeah, you're right. ...You know, despite how strange it's been lately, there's one thing that my mind is clear about." Her eyes practically shone as she looked at him. "And that's you." Mimic blinked. "Mimic not sure what to say." "That's okay. When you think of something to say, I'll still be here." She smiled. "I haven't felt this good in a very long time..." She caressed his face. "I just wish..." She shook her head. "Well, it is cold out here. Let's go back inside." "Good idea," Mimic nodded, leading the way after being released. Maria followed, but not before casting one last worried glance behind her before shutting the balcony door. The curtain was dropped, and nothing remained outside but the wind. "Yes...we all have dreams..." Whispered the black wind. Blackness seemed to seep from every shadow in the city, flying into the winds howling around the hotel window. Sounding like an injured wildcat, the winds built up into a spinning void. In a snap with the cold definition of a severed neck, a small figure materialized in the midst of the darkness. "Meeewww...." The powerful Pokemon cartwheeled adorably. "And mine is to destroy you all...beginning with you." Ebony energy danced in ever wider circles as he remembered his vow to destroy her... Meanwhile, inside the room, Maria had pushed the uneasy feeling from her mind by tending to her Pokemon. Most of them had finished eating, and she was going about returning them to their pokeballs. Mimic just cringed in the corner. Maria wasn't sure if it was the pokeballs bothering him, or Slasher using his leg as scratching post. She knew it was a sign of affection, but then, the Meowth's claws had never touched her though her boots. With a sweatdrop, she returned Max the Caterpie to his pokeball. She found James the Psyduck in the shower. She pulled away the shower curtain and found him in a pink showercap. "...." "Psyduck." James had a headache, as usual. Maria held out the pokeball. "Wanna go back, or stay in there?" "....Psy." Maria shrugged. "Alright, just don't let it overflow." "Duck." She went back out to do something about Slasher, but found that he had retreated under the bed for some reason. She blinked at Mimic, who put up his hands innocently. Charcoal, however, was eyeing Mimic suspiciously. The large fire lizard approached the Ditto sitting on the bed with his wings spread. "Charrr...!" He looked over at Maria. "You just *now* realized that!?" Maria gaped at her old friend. "Of course I know he isn't human!" Charcoal's eyes narrowed and gave her a good sniff. Then he swung his long neck over towards Mimic and snorted embers. "Zzzzzard..." He rumbled with a glare. "Charcoal!" Maria frowned. With a whip of his tail, Charcoal froze in place. Then he lumbered around and curled himself up in the center of the room. His burning eyes never left Mimic. "Char." Maria blinked. "You're not sleeping there...you're a fire hazard. You know it's time to go back in the pokeball..." "Charrr..." "Well...look, don't question me. Besides, since when do you have anything against going into your pokeball!?" Maria couldn't believe it. Charcoal had never disobeyed her like this before. Charcoal looked over at Maria. Then back at Mimic with a hard glare. Mimic gulped. "Mimic have feeling Charcoal know....very protective Charizard, is Charcoal?" Maria sighed. "He's worse than a thousand big brothers... He was the first pokemon I ever trained. I got him as a Charmander...and while he went though the usual personality changes, I've never known him to disobey quite like this..." She held out the pokeball again. "Charcoal, return! Now!" The Charizard roared and jumped Mimic. "Charcoal!!!" Everything seemed to go in slow motion as Charcoal lunged for Mimic's neck. Maria darted forward, but she felt dread, knowing she could never get there in time, especially wearing that ridiculous dress. Mimic tumbled backwards, not knowing fear as much as an adrenaline rush. Then a pearly-white object came hurtling past them. The strange missle was barely noticed by Charcoal. Not until it smashed into his head. Charcoal swayed about in shock for a moment before crashing to the ground. Followed by a slippery, wet, bar of soap. Maria blinked. Mimic blinked. Slasher yawned. They all turned as the slapping of wet duck feet against tile was heard. James waddled out from the bathroom and onto the carpeted floor, leaving puddles of water in his wake. He nonchalantly collected the bar of soap that lay next to the fallen fire Pokemon. "Psy." Then he returned to the bathroom, this time shutting the door behind him with a solid click. Mimic rose from where he crouched behind the bed. "....." Having recovered faster, Maria quickly recalled Charcoal into his pokeball. "Thank goodness...I guess Charcoal doesn't approve." Maria sighed and tucked the pokeball away. "I'm going to have to find a way to deal with this." "Mimic no mean to be trouble..." "No, it's no trouble." Maria sat next to him. "I think he just needs to cool down a bit, so to speak." She looked over at him and suddenly knew a world of longing. "Mimic...when do you think your friends will arrive?" Mimic blinked curiously. "Mimic not sure...could be anytime. Why?" Maria seemed lost in thought for the moment. "Maria?" Next thing he knew, he was flat on his back. And the windows shattered. With a moan, Maria turned and looked daggers towards the intrusion. "Not now..." Then her eyes widened in terror. "Mewww..." Surrounded by a purple ball of energy, the Mew floated into the room. "What have we here..." Mimic couldn't get up all the way, but he tried to face the Mew as well as he could. "Mew should get own room!" The Mew's happy smile melted into a sneer. "I intend to. But I think I'll take yours, first." He bobbed around in the air gleefully. Then looked at Maria. "I promised you girl....I promised you I'd find you....and I'd kill you." "I think it was the other way around," Maria looked around for a weapon. Only to find herself unable to move. She could feel Mimic struggling more effectively beneath her. She grimaced, knowing she was being a hinderance to him. "Now..." Mew snarled. "I suppose you should properly know me as I am known by my peers before I give you the honor of being the first blow in my plan for world domination..." The extreme blue eyes of the Mew glowed brightly. The black energy that surrounded the purple energy ball swirled around and around.... Then seeped into him, changing his fur from pink to pitch black like blotted ink spreading on paper. "Silly humans actually think we all look alike...that's as ridiculous as the theory that there's only one Mew." He snickered. "But I assure you, that I'm far superior than any other...in all ways. Not even that thing from a 'Mew machine', Mewtwo, can compare to my natural power!" "....And Mimic think brother have huge ego," Mimic muttered to himself. "I heard that!" The Mew snapped. "And yes, he will fall to my might as well! In the end, all will kneel or fall before Vortex!" Maria blinked. "I'd almost forgotten how nuts you are..." "Silence!" Vortex tried to look as non-cute as possible. "I am the black wind that will swallow the world! Know me and know God!" "Vortex mean Goddish?" Mimic looked for an opening... "No! Goddish is nothing to me! Goddish is a *myth*, like all the PokeGods! In the end, there is *only* Vortex!" Vortex glowed brightly, preparing to strike. Suddenly, Maria felt a sharp fear and she managed to grab onto Mimic tightly. "Mimic..." "MEOOOWTTTTTHHHH!!!" "MEEEEEEEEEEEEEWWWWW!!" There was a dizzy moment of confusion, then Maria's eyes focused on the furry thing attached to Vortex's leg. Slasher had leapt from under the bed in blink of an eye just in time. "How....!" Vortex cried and there was a blast of energy so loud it shook the building. Someone out in the hall screamed, but not as loudly as Maria when she saw Slasher's blackened body, crackling with energy, hit the side of the wall. Still hovering in the air, Vortex was shaking in rage. "You...You *scratched* me! You will die with the rest, you traitorous feline!" His baby blue eyes glowed horribly against his black fur. "But first, I must get a band-aid." He dissolved away into the spinning black wind. "When I return, however, you will all know my wrath!" The wind howled before roaring away though the window and into the night sky. Maria wasn't paying attention anymore. Finally free to move, she was cradling Slasher's near-lifeless form in her arms. The Meowth made a quiet mewing noise, then went silent. Feeling his struggle growing faint, she turned towards Mimic with tears in her eyes. "Please...help me..." TBC? ~Maria R "Psy yie yie..." --- http://purplestudio.webjump.com --- "R is for Rrrah...Rrrah...Rocket!" - Meowth --- Rocketshipper Forever! --- TEOTWAWKI