From: Susan <dragon0313@aol.commies> Subject: [PW!]Eeveen the darkest cloud has a silver lining Date: Wednesday, February 09, 2000 7:48 AM Mandy was just the slightest bit irritated. Ember was still in bad shape from that battle with one of Surge's lackeys. The walk to Celadon was helping her recover, of course, but now it was raining. Of course it *would* start raining while they were in the middle of nowhere. Of course it would happen when Ember couldn't go in her Pokeball. Of course it would last for hours, forcing her and Ron to pitch a tent and squeeze inside with Ember for the duration. Mandy's sarcastic thoughts were broken by the sound of scratching on the tent's flap. Curiously she moved the flap aside to reveal a bedraggled looking Eevee. "Oh! An eevee!" she exclaimed. Ron scooped the Eevee in his arms, getting his shirt all wet. "Poor thing. Do we have a towel?" Mandy handed him a towel and a brush. Each swipe of the brush left the soaked pokemon drier and the bottom of the tent wetter. Unfortunately the wet floor left Ember confined to one side of the tent. "Now where in the world could you have come from? You don't seem to have an I.D." "Vee, eevee vee ee!" Ember's ruby eyes rolled upwards. "You won't get much out of her, she's younger than Amaranth," she said in a string of rapid Poketalk, "but she says her home is behind a big mountain." "A mountain? We didn't pass any mountains." A look of annoyance crossed Ron's face. "I hope she doesn't belong to someone. I've always wanted an eevee." "Even if...Oh!" Mandy exclaimed, "Maybe she means that big mound we passed after the holiday party." "We should check." "Ponyta?" (Anything yet?) "Not a thing. She seems to think there's something there, though." Mandy held Amaranth as she watched the hyperactive eevee dart around the mound. Ron was circling too, trying to see a door or something. Suddenly the little eevee slid to a halt on the far side and butted her nose to the grass. She did this again, hard enough that it looked like she would hurt herself. "What's wrong?" Ron knelt beside the eevee. He jabbed the spot that his hyperactive companion had been headbutting. Nothing happend. "Ember, could you kick this for me?" He and the eevee backed away as the ponyta maneuvered her fore hooves to give the mound a light kick. A huge stone fell away to reveal a metal bar. Ron gave it an experimental tug and jumped away in surprise when he heard a hydraulic hissing sound. The mound shook and fell away in four sections, leaving a hole in the ground. Closer inspection revealed a spiral staircase. "Heh. I guess we go inside then," Mandy said nervously. It was a dumb thing to say, the eevee was all ready bounding down the stairway. They all ran after it, no easy trick for Ember. Mandy came to the bottom first and was surprised to see a short, dark figure. "Mandy?" the figure asked incredulously. TBC? -Susan, Jedi Hamster Official WDTSF Spontaneous Vocalization Specialist; Director of Unexpected Screaming. Defender of truth, justice, freedom and hamsters. Contact my hamster at Dinsdale@rinkworks.com.