From: RobfromVoid <RobfromVoid@prodigy.net> Subject: [PW!] The Diversity... Warehouse? Date: Saturday, February 26, 2000 Robert is logged onto the Internet on his computer, where he usually is when he isn't with Mithril-rama. He types in the URL of Yahoo, one of his favorite search engines. After thinking for a moment about what he wants to look for, he clicks on the blank space next to the Search button, types "sexy Slowpoke lingerie for girls". Before he clicks the Search button, he shakes his head and says, "I doubt Rilli would want to wear anything like that for me... I might as well search for Gym Funding. My new Indigo Credit Card doesn't have a very high credit limit." He is about to delete what he typed, but a large message in a separate window blocks his view of the Web Browser. A voice coming from the computer says, "Incoming Video Message!" Robert clicks on it, not bothering to fix his particularly messy hair since he doesn't have a camera attached to his computer. Mr. Fuji's face beams at Robert, almost as if he could see the teenager, "Hello, Robert! I tried calling your phone number, but when it was busy, I knew that you were online, so I got on my computer to message you. I've got good news! Why don't you turn on your video camera? Looking at a plain screen that says 'Audio Only' kind of ruins the mood..." "I would if I could, Mr. Fuji... but I don't have a video camera." Robert holds his black microphone with one hand and uses his other hand to reach behind his back in embarrassment even though Mr. Fuji can't see him, "Besides, I doubt you'd want to see me in my underwear!" Robert sweatdrops when he looks down at his white undershirt, Slowpoke briefs, and dirty white socks, "I doubt anyone would want to see me in my underwear, except maybe Rilli. Maybe. What's the good news, sir?" The image of Mr. Fuji smiles, "I got in touch with the people who offered that Abandoned Warehouse to me, the one near Pokemon Tower, and they say that they'd love to sell it to you for your Unofficial Gym! In fact, they told me that there's going to be a Construction Worker there at 5:00 PM today. I'm going to be there, and you should go too, to show that you're serious about this Gym you want to run. You have to meet him today to tell him what you want the Gym to look like. He and his crew will start construction immediately and you'll be able to open your Gym in March! Doesn't that sound great?" "Wow, I haven't thought about what I want the Diversity Gym to look like yet..." Robert twirls the cord of his microphone, considering the possibilities, trying to remember the architecture of the Eight Gyms he went to during his Pokemon Journey, "Well, at least I have until 5:00 to draw up the blueprints!" Robert glances at the digital clock on the lower right hand corner of his computer screen and his eyes go wide, "It's 4:05 PM?! That only gives me 55 minutes to figure out a design! What am I going to do?! I can't draw stick figures, much less blueprints! I have to figure this all out... Bye, Mr. Fuji!" "But I've got more good..." Mr. Fuji starts but doesn't finish since Robert shuts down his computer in the flip of a switch. Robert proceeds to pace around the bed in the center of his room, scratching his head every once in a while, "I don't have any blue paper... how can I make blueprints without blue paper? If I draw it on white paper, it would be whiteprints... and who's ever heard of whiteprints? I need blue graph paper! I know, I can go to the Poké-depot and... No, there's no time for that. I've only got..." Robert grabs his wristwatch off the carpeted floor, "Forty-nine minutes to go! Okay, Robert, you can figure this out. No, no you can't! You've gotten too used to Rilli figuring everything out for... Rilli! That's right!" Robert looks at the Valentine Card Rilli made for him a few days ago, which he placed on the wall directly over his computer, where he can always see it. "Rilli can draw!" Robert snaps his fingers and scrambles to find his clothing, "She's an awesome artist - she can draw us so realistically! I can describe how I want my Gym to be to her and she can draw the blueprints! I bet she has blue paper, too." He struggles to put blue jeans on, ties his belt once they're on, then reaches for his black shirt, "Now all I need to do is figure out what I want my Gym to look like... Hmm, there has to be diversity in a Diversity Gym!" Robert slides his sneakers on without tying the shoelaces, "So that means I need to have a room for each type of Pokemon..." He combs his hair with his fingers and zips up the zipper on his black shirt, "Or maybe I can bunch Pokemon types together and make just four rooms!" Robert dashes out of his room, nodding to Kathy, the small gray Persian, who is extending her paws outward, clearly showing her delight - a result being sprawled on the comfortable couch in Robert's Living Room. Robert starts pacing around the couch and Kathy keeps her feline eyes on him, "Okay, let's see... Water, Ice, and Dragon Pokemon all live in bodies of water, and an indoor pool like the one in the Cerulean City Gym is just what I need! Pools aren't just for Pokemon, they're for people too, and with a pool so private, Rilli could show me more of those bikinis that she's too shy to wear in public! Okay, a pool is a must, so there's going to be a Pool room! What other types of Pokemon are there? I know this. I just have to remember what that chart that nice Mrs. Eckert from Rosetta University gave me looked like. Uhm... Oh yeah, Grass Pokemon!" The Persian on the couch's eyes get dizzy from watching Robert pace so much. She buries her head under her paws. "There should be a Greenhouse room, just like the one in the Celadon City Gym!" Robert imagines how much fun his Vileplume and Rilli's Victreebel would have in a serene green environment, "There would be a Garden there and Rilli and I can plant all kinds of exotic plants and raise our Grass Pokemon with proper nutrients and sunlight! Okay, so that's two rooms... what else?" Robert looks down at his wristwatch, "It's 4:31 already?! I need to start racing over to Rilli's house!" Robert runs out the front door of his house, locking it on his way out. He climbs onto his new two-seater bike and starts peddling fast! While peddling towards Rilli's house, Robert keeps talking to himself out loud about the design of the Gym, "I'm sure the Greenhouse room can accommodate Earth and..." He shudders, "Bug Pokemon too. So I've got six Pokemon types covered so far... What else is there?" Robert glances around Lavender Town's streets trying to find a Pokemon to answer his question. Then it hits him- the poop of a Pidgey flying up above lands on his bike, "Flying Pokemon! I'm going to need an aviary of some sort... Or a room with a dome that opens up, giving Flying Pokemon ample room to battle. But would any other Pokemon need access to the sky?" Robert sees a lightning bolt hit the Rock Tunnel, probably the result of a stray Electabuzz, "Lightning types! Many of their attacks come from controlling the weather in the sky. I think Psychic Pokemon would also benefit from being in an open space, where they can better tap into whatever Psychic waves there are. Now there's one room left..." Robert parks his bike and races up to the door of Rilli's house, checking his watch to find out that it's 4:40 PM. He still mumbles to himself while waiting for the door to be answered, "That leaves Fire... Rock... and something else..." When the door opens up, Robert sees a strange combination - Rilli's Haunter's body with Rilli's bare legs standing, knees pressed together, underneath her. Robert blinks when the Haunter Licks him, leaving him shaking, "...and... Ghost... Types... Maybe I can make a Volcano Room full of lava, rocks, and ghosts - kind of like what happened in Pompeii... What the heck?!" Robert was so wrapped up in thinking about his Gym that he didn't notice Rilli's legs seemingly belonging to Haunter now. Mithril-rama steps away from Haunter, leaving the purple ghost, the one who was phasing directly over her torso, leg-less once again, "You shouldn't have Licked Robert like that!" Rilli steps up to Robert and tiptoes up to give him a kiss on his forehead, "What brings you here?" When Robert points to his bike, Rilli groans at his lame mimetic joke and asks, "No, really?" "Yes, Rilli's exactly why I'm here!" Robert grabs Rilli's hand and pulls her into her own house, closing the door on his way in. He takes her to her own room, Haunter following them, and he says, "Please help me, Rilli! I need you to draw the design of the Diversity Gym on blueprints so I can present them to the Construction Worker in..." Robert glances down at his wristwatch, "Eight minutes! Ahhh! Come on, get your art supplies quick, I've figured out what I want it to look like..." Mithril-rama furrows her brow, nods, and fetches blue paper and pencils to draw the design of Robert's Gym. She sits down at a table in her room and leans forward with a white pencil, "Okay, Robert, I'll try my best. What do you want it to look like?" Robert frantically tells Rilli to draw a main hallway that ends at a throne and that has doors into four rooms - the Pool Room, the Greenhouse Room, the Sky Room, and the Volcano Room. He goes on to briefly explain what each of the rooms looks like, while Rilli sketches away, writing descriptions and making crude drawings. Robert explains his reasoning behind the four rooms to Rilli while she draws them, and she nods, agreeing with him that the ideas are rather clever. "But what about Normal, Fighting, and Poison Pokemon?" Mithril-rama questions while she puts the finishing touches on the quickly sketched but nicely made blueprints of the Diversity Gym, "Don't they get their own room, too?" Robert bites his lip when he realizes that he's forgotten three major types of Pokemon. He looks down at his watch, sees it read 5:00 PM, and makes up an excuse, "Those types are really versatile. They can work in any room. Now go put on your jeans and shoes, because I want you to come with me to the building where the Diversity Gym will be finished in a month! Oh, and Gengar and Haunter should come too. I wouldn't want their egg to hatch while we're gone. It's almost due, isn't it?" "Yeah." Mithril-rama affirms while sliding her jeans and sneakers on, "The egg's been moving a whole lot lately. Haunter hasn't left my side since I came home from your house on Valentine's Day. Believe me, it's really weird to go to the bathroom with your Pokemon watching!" She glances at Haunter, who is cradling the egg in her arms, seemingly oblivious to what Rilli is talking about. After tying her shoelaces, Rilli nods to Robert, "Okay, I'm ready. Where's Gengar?" "Gengar!" Robert calls out. After a few seconds, Gengar bounces into the room! He materializes into a solid state of being, then leaps to hug his trainer, who he's missed while staying with Rilli! Gengar doesn't phase through Robert, and instead his short arms wrap around Robert's sides in an embrace. The grinning Gengar laughs though his teeth, "Gen, gen, gen gengar!" Robert smiles and says, "I'm glad to see you too, Gengar! We're going to go on a little trip... come with us!" Gengar nods. Once outside, Robert is on the front seat of his two-seater bike, Rilli's on the back seat, and Gengar and Haunter float directly over their trainers, ready to keep up with them on a ghostly black two-seater they conjured up from the netherworld. When Robert and Rilli start peddling, so does Gengar. Haunter is the only one who can't peddle since she has no legs though she'd like to on occasion, the reason why she loves phasing onto Rilli's torso every once in a while. Haunter can't even peddle with her dismembered hands, since they are cradling her wiggling violet egg. The trip to the abandoned warehouse that Mr. Fuji was talking about takes a little over ten minutes. Robert and Rilli race into the warehouse, ghosts following them! "There you are, Robert!" Mr. Fuji calls out to Robert from where he stands inside the warehouse full of empty boxes and broken crates. The middle-aged man is standing next to another adult, one with beady eyes, a thick black beard and a hard hat. Robert glances down at his watch, "I'm sorry that we're 18 minutes late, Mr. Fuji, but Rilli's got the blueprints right here!" He takes the Diversity Gym blueprints out of Rilli's hands and hands them to the Construction Worker standing next to Mr. Fuji. Robert quickly explains the main points of the drawing's floor plan and elevation to the man, then asks, "Can you build it, sir?" "Of course I can build it!" The bearded man shouts in a loud annoying voice, "Me and my crew worked on the famous Giva Dam project! We would've finished, too, if it weren't for those rotten kids and those cursed Diglett!" The psychotic man starts banging on his hard hat and snarling incoherent obscenities about Diglett and Dugtrio, "ARGH! I HATE THE DIGLETT!" Robert nods, clenching his teeth and fist, "That makes two of us, buddy! Uhm, about the Diglett, not about working on the Giva Dam. I've never heard about the Giva Dam, but I'll be glad to know that someone who dislikes Diglett will be working on my Gym! Be sure to make it Diglett proof. I wouldn't want those nasty little phallic heads to destroy it from the ground up..." "Do you even know what phallic means, Robert?" Mithril-rama asks Robert with an eyebrow raised. Robert frowns and shakes his head, "My friends at school used to say that about Diglett. What does it mean, anyway?" "Uhh, nevermind." Mithril-rama sweatdrops, then looks at Robert's mentor, "Mr. Fuji, with all due respect, I'm curious as to when you'll be able to act as a Pokéminister and marry my Haunter with Robert's Gengar. I think her egg's about to hatch." "I was going to tell Robert the good news that I can marry them tomorrow at Pokemon Tower, but Robert got all excited about the Gym's design that he signed off the Internet before I could tell him. Hmm, let's see that egg." Mr. Fuji observes Haunter's egg for a moment, then says, "Yes, it looks like it'll hatch in the next couple of days. Maybe even tomorrow!" Mr. Fuji nods, "Get your Ghost Pokemon ready for the Wedding. It'll take place at 3 PM, so be at Pokemon Tower then!" Robert nods to his mentor, "Yes, Mr. Fuji. I'll make up for being late today by being early tomorrow." He looks at Gengar and Haunter, who are kissing each other deeply on the lips. Robert smirks at them and says, "Save some of that for the Wedding!" -Robert