From: Susan (dragon0313@aol.commies) Subject: [PW!]Back to school Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2000/03/11 Two figures moved on the Vermilion beach, one human, one a fire bright comet against the midnight sky. It was midnight, but the two were running like it was noon. The human could be heard panting from the exertions, but the blazing streak seemed to be coping just fine. "Okay, stop." The two screeched to a halt. Now that the two were paused, it was possible to make out the comet's shape. "Ember?" The comet-bright Ponyta looked at Mandy. "I'm glad that you and I could do this together. Since we met the others we haven't had much time alone. We haven't had a good run together since we left home." "I like running with you," Ember said in Ponytalk. "And this is good for both of us. I need some basic training, so I won't get overpowered by a stupid Electabuzz again." What's more, she thought, she wouldn't be humiliated when the same Electabuzz was beaten quite easily by Amaranth, a year old Oddish. "I don't think you need basic training. I think we should try a few new attack strategies. l know! We should visit Natalie. She's always been a brilliant tactician." Mandy remembered watching Natalie's little Staryu beat every Pokemon foolish enough to challenge her. "Is she still at the school?" "Yeah. The school isn't far from here, let's go." "Now?" Mandy surveyed the dock, closed off for the night. "We can't get back on the ship. We may as well sneak into the dorm and stay the night." ______ The school was hidden pretty well. You wouldn't see it if you didn't know what to look for, it was nestled in the outskirts of the city. Further protection against night intruders was a high fence around the property, spiked to make it tough to climb, but Ember jumped it easily. The campus was reasonably large, the pair had to find their way through a labyrinth of buildings before they got to the girls dormitory. The lights were on, that probably meant someone was throwing a party. Not a rare thing, the students of Pokémon Vocational Academy generally managed those things weekly. Mandy tapped on the window and a Pidgeot flapped over. It flapped back into the other room, then came back with a delicate looking human girl trailing behind. She unlatched the window and slid it open with the slightest creak. "Miranda? Hey guys, Miranda's here!" The door opened and the petite girl flung her arms around her old friend. "Eva! It's good to see you again." Mandy disentangled herself and walked in. The foyer of the girls' dorm was a nice and homey, a neutral ground for all the rooming pokemon. The floor was plain blue carpet and cushy chairs filled the corners. "There's a party in the water room. Ember...her name's still Ember, right, can stay in the hearth room." Ember happily trotted to the indicated place as Mandy followed Eva. The water room was excellent. It was an artificial pond with a tall waterfall to keep the water from stagnating. All manner of water pokemon sat around or swam in the pool, most of them accompanied by trainers. Mandy rolled up her jeans and sat on the rim, Eva dived into the pond. She surfaced with a Slowbro in her arms. "So, what've you been up to?" she asked, placing the Slowbro on the side. "Not much. I worked on a farm for a year, then I went on the standard Pokemon quest. I've got three badges." Mandy kicked at the water listlessly. "Really? What Pokemon do you have?" "I've got Ember, I've got an Oddish, a Gyarados and a Gastly." "Still want to be contractor?" Mandy sighed. "Not really. I'm trying to find something I like, that's why I've been doing this." "Oh well," Eva grinned wickedly. "Did you get yourself a nice traveling partner?" "Well, yeah." Seeing Eva's look, she quickly amended, "It's not like that! He's on the S.S. Anne, babysitting my pokemon." "Sure," Eva's grin grew wider. "So, why are you here?" "I want to see Nat. Is she here?" "I think she's behind the waterfall." Eva made a mock-sad face. "I knew you wouldn't be here just to see me." "Oh, don't give me that! I didn't..." *SPLASH* as Mandy was trying to talk, Eva pulled her into the pond. "Glub. Cough...sputter." Mandy started, as she came up for air. "That wasn't very nice!" she finally choked out. "Gotcha!" Eva pulled Mandy over to and through the waterfall, revealing the small artificial cave structure behind it. A wiry blue-haired girl was perched on the rocks, polishing a Starmie's crystal. "Hey, Nat!" The girl on the rocks looked up at Eva, then at the soaked figure beside her. "Eva! You didn't!" She stood up and walked over to Mandy. "She does this every time someone isn't wearing a bathing suit. It's nice to see you again, Mandy." "You too. Actually, you were the main reason Ember and I decided to visit." Mandy explained the situation, the humiliating loss to an Electabuzz and Ember's desire to beat the stupid thing on her own, not leave it to one of the others in Mandy's team. "And we remembered what a brilliant strategist you are..." "Hardly brilliant, but thanks for the complement. So the Electabuzz is bigger and has a really powerful attack and is immune to firespin?" "Right." Natalie whistled. "Okay, that's a tough one. Let's go see Ember." She patted her Starmie's cyrstal and led them through a concealed door to the hearth room, where Ember was napping on the floor next to an Arcanine. "Mandy, can you wake Ember for me?" Mandy tapped the ponyta's withers. The sleepy ponyta muttered an expletive. Mandy sweatdropped. "I'm not going to translate that." "We get the idea," Eva smirked. "Ember, please stand for me," requested Natalie in a tone that the Ponyta couldn't help but obey. "You've gotten bigger since you've started battling. Mandy's trained you well. Can you demonstrate a stomp attack for me?" Natalie found a conveniently placed rock and pushed it over to Ember. The stomp reduced it to dust before anyone could blink. "That's good. Do you know flamethrower?" Ember shook her head no. "Ember attack?" A nod. "Leer?" Another nod. "Okay, that's something to work with. If I had a TM for megakick, I'd give it to you, but I don't." "So what do you recommend?" "Keep the Electabuzz distracted with a well aimed combination of moves before it can do thunder." Mandy nodded and looked at Ember. "So give him a really nasty hotfoot, then rear back on your hind legs and do a stomp attack right at its gut. Can you do that Ember?" The ponyta nodded. "That should work. I'd bet my reputation on it. But I'd aim for it's fists with the ember attack before the stomp, so it can't do anything. Maybe combine it with a leer. Ember is quite well equipped to go against an Electabuzz, she just wasn't prepared last time." "That's great. Do you have any advice for dealing with exploding Electrodes?" "Duck." Everyone within hearing distance groaned. "Seriously, there's nothing you can do. Did you hear about the gene-splice projects that the school's been doing with them?" Mandy suspected this had something to do with the Electrode that knew thundershock. "I've got an idea. What's been going on?" "We've been---" "The school's been doing some work with young Voltorbs," Eva broke in. Natalie shot her an irritated look. "They've been using the genes of pikachus and such, the ones that allow them to learn electric moves. When they become Electrodes they're pretty good in battle, not completely worthless like the normal ones. They don't have to sacrifice their lives to win." "That's not so terrible. I never liked seeing them blow up. Then again, maybe it's not a good idea to mess with nature." Mandy had heard of gruesome genetic tampering experiments through her parents, scientists at the Cinnabar lab. "It's not tampering with nature," Natalie said. "Some of us believe that voltorbs and electrodes are byproducts of humankind. We think they might never have come into existance but for our powerplants." "Whatever. I don't really think it'll do any harm. So," she said brightly, changing the subject, "have you heard about Daniel?" _________ The next morning, bright and early, Mandy and Ember stood at the doors of the Vermilion Gym. She waited for the five minutes until opening time, then flung the door outward. To her surprise, she saw the gangly electric trainer who she'd met last time. "Hi," he started, friendlier than last time they'd met. "I remember you! Going to challenge Surge?" "We're here to challenge you, actually. Ember has a score to settle against your Electabuzz." "Right then. One on one match. Electabuzz, go!" TBC? -Susan, Jedi Hamster Official WDTSF Spontaneous Vocalization Specialist; Director of Unexpected Screaming. "Trust me! After all, I'm the floating glowing guy!"-Gennai, from Digimon