From: Adrian Tymes <wingcat@pacbell.net> Subject: Re: [PW!] It Takes No Balls... Date: Sunday, February 13, 2000 8:12 PM RobfromVoid wrote: > "Don't be sad, Zubat. You're still my favorite Pokemon." Minax gently > scratches her blue fingernails across Zubat's blue belly, "The only reason I > sent Pidgey is because Doppler is unpredictable and Pidgey is expendable. > You're too priceless to send out on such a dangerous mission, which is also > why I'm calling you back into your Pokeball." Minax lifts Zubat's Pokeball up > and the Zubat, happy to know that he's still loved, is called back into > hiding. Minax places the Pokeball on her belt. > > With Arbok still coiled to protect Omelette from harm, and with Fluke heading > closer and closer to Doppler, Minax's plan is falling into place. The > red-haired Rocket reaches into her holster and withdraws the silver revolver > that contains just one bullet - a bullet made especially to kill Ditto. With > its sleek shape meant to penetrate and explode once inside, its > Transformation Disabling fluid, and its various salts mixed with poisons, the > bullet is perfect for the difficult task of killing Doppler. It took only seconds to find him; it would have been difficult for him to take less caution. Only a few steps into her "chase", Minax noted footprints in the mud leading from the center. Only one set - either he did not walk here, or it was not raining when he arrived. So little distance had been made that Minax was not even close to out of sight of the center when she saw her prey - he was just on the other side of the building. On the ground in front of him was a familiar, though slightly distorted, meowth; the absolute lack of motion from either one indicated some kind of psychic activity, probably Doppler torturing another victim. Torture that Minax would stop. A note of caution crossed her mind as she raised her gun. This was too easy. Were there no traps, no guards? A quick check around indicated not. She was sure of her target: the pidgey somehow already knew Doppler's scent - perhaps he met him before - and was positive that one of the two in front of her was him; the two were a meowth shape and a human shape, and the tracks from the center were a human's. This was the proverbial perfect opportunity, a situation which simulations promised in abundance, but in reality never happened. Except that it was happening now. Casting her last doubts aside, Minax loaded her special bullet, raised her gun, and fired. The bullet made suprisingly little noise - not that much propellant, to make room for extra poison, she guessed. But she saw Doppler's skin pucker where it hit. Doppler's mind's eye snapped away from the incoming imaginary scalpel when his body signalled something very wrong. Poison - some type that ignored his instinctive efforts to wall it off and expel it from his body. He staggered around, turning towards where the shot had come from... Minax locked eyes with Doppler, and smiled. Doppler's face was unreadable, mostly because it was melting. "Minax...why?" "To put an end to your evil." Starting from the bullet hole, Doppler's body began to dissolve. "No more evil than..." "Save it. I don't want to hear your lies." "Minax...I...loved...you..." The remaining half of his corpse exploded into pink dust, which quickly settled to the ground in the light rain. "And I hated you." She kicked the main pile of dust, and watched it scatter like a pile of dust. Nearby, Nisemon blinked out of the no-longer-shared vision. TBC? [OOC: Rest In Pieces.]