From: Adrian Tymes (wingcat@pacbell.net) Subject: Re: [PW!]Deep Red And Orange Thoughts Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2000-11-22 00:10:19 PST [And of course, my server decides not to show me this post for a week, so I can't reply to it until now... >_< ] syke108 wrote: > Doppler nodded to the nearby Firefly, who had apparently developed > a deep fondness for Doppler, and the Ninetales rounded up her children > and walked off with them. Once they were alone, Doppler prompted > Loriana for her questions. > > "<Doppler, since the day you rescued us from those humans, I have > learned a great deal about the species I once reffered to as the 'Two > Leggeds. However, I still have a few questions. One, why do we have to > have this rebellion? I can't see why we simply cannot teach these > humans the right way to respect life. After all, the famous Pikachu > was able to do so, so why can't we? Two, what happened that caused you > to have such a hatred for them? Finally, on a more personal note, what > is it about you that smells so different? Your smell reminds me of a > cross between the strange blobs of walking goo I've seen in this base, > as well as that of a Ninetales. What are you, Doppler?>" "<What am I?> Many things." Loriana leapt to her feet in surprise. A voice like the Two Leggeds', coming from a Ninetales?!? "<What...how...?>" "<Please do not hate me for the truth, or for not revealing it immediately.>" A red glow swept over Doppler, until he was naught but the glow, melting and swirling like one caught by the poke balls, but in slow motion. Eventually, this red glow settled into a pink solid, with only a parody of a face. "<...>" "You do not recognize this form? Ah, perhaps that is for the best after all." Doppler dissolved into the red glow again, this time becoming taller and thinner, dissolving into grey. Eventually, he looked like one of the grey hooded robes that Loriana had seen many of Doppler's followers wear; if there was anything inside the robe, the robe's shadows prevented her from seeing it. "I am what is known as a 'ditto'. What you saw just now was most dittos' natural form...but I am irrevocably far from natural now, through a curse of the Two Leggeds' that I have tried to turn into a blessing. It is such that I dislike even being in that form now." "<'Ditto'...I heard about them, once. The ones with no shape of their own, fated to imitate what they see, but never for very long. They become so many things, their power as any one of them pales next to the real thing. Is that what those blobs are? Is that what you are?>" "That...was me, a long time ago. It is them, too." Her tail drooped. "<You have my pity.>" "..." The shadow of a smirk suggested itself inside Doppler's hood. "Pity is rarely an emotion others have for me. While I thank you for your thoughtfulness towards my past, you should know that the limits of most dittos do not apply to me." He melted, through another glow, back into a ninetales. "One of the good Two Leggeds taught me to remember my forms; I think he may have been pushing towards this goal. But, alas, he was an isle of good among a sea of evil." "<What happened?>" "Please understand...I have told this story so many times, I no longer have any right to privacy on it, but it still pains me to have to remember the details." "<If you don't want to->" "No. You asked, and you deserve to know. I was..." "<Go on.>" "That's strange. I can't seem to remember. It's like-" A robed alakazam appeared amidst the blue flash that Loriana had learned to associate with teleportation. No sound came from its lips; the mind-voice of telepathy was something else Loriana had heard enough to recognize, even if she did not know how to create it herself. #Great Doppler, is it acting up again?# Loriana was instantly on edge. "<Who are you? I was trying to speak to Doppler alone!>" The floating pokemon inclined its head towards her. #Do not worry, young one. Whatever you have said to Doppler, I have not overheard. It is just that he gives off a distinctive psychic signature at certain moments, which I picked up on.# "I wish you wouldn't do it. I know, you say you're not monitoring me, but it almost feels like I'm a puppet sometimes." #Please, honored Doppler! Banish the thought from your mind! We would NEVER do something like that! If anything, it is we who should be your puppets. You are the one who gives our lives meaning.# Loriana frowned. "<What's going on?>" #Some months ago, a treacherous member of the evil Team Rocket dared to attack Doppler. She spread word that she had actually killed him in order to collect their bounty on his life, though as you can see, Doppler is quite alive. She did manage to do something to his long term memory, though, and every so often, he forgets the events of his past. If I may guess, you were asking him why he hates the humans as much as he does. No, it's not because I'm psychic; a lot of newcomers become curious. I have heard the story often enough that I can, and sometimes do, retell it. If you would like - and of course, with your permission, Doppler - I can answer that for you.# "It's more like every time," Doppler muttered. "<What was that?>" "Nothing." He nodded to the alakazam. "Please, go ahead." #Thank you. Many years ago, Doppler was much like you and me, or so he has always claimed. Unlike you and me, he was in the company of human scientists, in the infamous Mewtwo experiments on Cinnabar.# "<What's a Mewtwo?>" #You do not know? Doppler, where-# "Cut her some slack. She's been in the forest almost all her life." He smiled. "Unspoiled by civilization." #Hmph. You mean 'untrained'.# Doppler blinked. "You know, I think that's the first time I have ever heard you pass judgement on my opinions." Although the robe concealed its eyes, Loriana could smell its fear. #Sorry! I apologize! It won't happen again, honored leader!# "Eh? I'm not saying that's necessarily bad, just that I've never seen you do it. That's all." #Sir, for me to contradict you is as unthinkable as...# "It's what you're doing now." #...# Loriana could tell from Doppler's grin that he was enjoying the moment. "Look. Can we forget about it and continue the story? Elucidate on the historical details, please: she really doesn't know much of what we take for granted." #Of course. Right. Anyway...Mewtwo is a modern legend. Many accounts dispute the details, but a few things are clear. He is one of the most powerful pokemon of all time. He was genetically engineered...sorry, that means he was created...by the humans specifically to be powerful. But in giving him power, they refused to look at him as anything more than a toy, or a tool, or a test. He was given the same respect you would give a shelter you dug out of the ground - sure, it's useful, but you would not talk to it or nuture it like you would your own pups, even though both owe their existence to you. And these humans were the closest Mewtwo had to parents.# Loriana frowned, trying to wrap her mind around the concept. #Think of it like this. You give birth to a pup. A pup as large as a tree, maybe, or one that grows large really fast. Then you plant the pup in the ground so it can't move, and dig a shelter in its hide. Now, no matter what you do to it, it still lives, and it's still your pup. It hurts because it's got holes in it, but it trusts and obeys you because you're its mother. Until it dies from the wounds you've inflicted, but you neither notice nor care...at least until its flesh starts rotting, and then only because it's no longer a good shelter.# "<That...>" She started shaking. "<That's awful...>" #Mewtwo didn't die, exactly. His wounds were more mental than physical, and he was given the ability to repair any actual nicks and scrapes he did pick up. But you get the idea.# The vulpix looked Doppler in the eye. "<Is that who you're fighting?>" His voice was emotionless, almost disconnected. "No. For one thing, when Mewtwo finally escaped their control, the first thing he did was kill them; there's not much more revenge we could take. For another, the ones we fight are worse." "<How could anyone be worse than that? And how can you be so calm talking about it?>" "Evil is a relative scale. Those humans were bad, true, but their injury was mostly confined to Mewtwo. The ones we fight inflict misery on all pokemon, and try to make sure that their misery will always be inflicted. And believe it or not, I've actually seen worse things done to individual pokemon. You kind of get desensitized to it after a while. Doesn't make it any less worth fighting, though." #Are you sure you want to continue, madam? The story seems to have affected you...# Loriana now glared at the psychic. #<Tell me the rest of what happened. I want to know. First off, did they do to Doppler what they did to Mewtwo?># It glanced at Doppler, then back at her. #In a way. Not quite as bad directly; Doppler at least had one human who cared for him. And he had a brother. But Doppler would have died by their hand had Mewtwo not saved him. Doppler's own accounts claimed he would have lived, but - and forgive us for this, please, Doppler - some of Doppler's first followers investigated the lab, and concluded that he would not have survived had Mewtwo not halted the experiments by destroying the place. Mewtwo taught Doppler the beginnings of power before they escaped, though...and afterwards, Doppler began training himself, and evolved into a god.# Doppler blushed. "Or so they always say." #Ok, I'll admit, that's just what we claim based on the evidence. He's destroyed whole human cities...# "Major parts of them. A few times. And they quickly rebuilt. I don't think I really accomplished anything." #Many of us have literally died and come back, our spirits inhabiting the shells we once lived in, such that we need not absolutely fear the grim scyther...# "My brother Mimic showed you how. Your own devotion to me did the rest." #Ah, but you inspire such devotion! And let us not forget your mastery of your own powers. Not just transformation, but the skills you show every day in leading us in our cause. The same ones that directed you to open your heart to this young lady, and lead her to us.# "Well...ok, I do have *some* experience..." #In any case, he might have been willing to forgive those who died in Mewtwo's escape, such is the grandness of his heart. But, as he travelled among the humans and learned their natures, he saw the same types of injustice rained down upon pokemon every day. We know that pokemon are sentient beings; free willed individuals deserving of respect and treatment in the same manner as we wish they would treat us. The more enlightened humans share that view; for instance, the trainer of the pikachu of legend was, as far as we can tell, already possessed of that view before they ever met.# Loriana blinked. Something was not right... #But...that's only the most enlightened. The vast majority of humans are brought up to view pokemon as tools to be used and exploited; Mewtwo was but one culmination of this viewpoint. Have you ever lost family or friends to the poke balls, then found and talked to them later? Did you ever wonder why they obey the humans whom they once fought, rather than fleeing their new masters at the first chance? Poke balls are a form of mind control which all but the strongest pokemon can not fight off. Even you may have heard of the Pokemon League and Team Rocket. These are the largest of the many institutions designed to promote the idea of capturing and enslaving us. Children - human pups - are indoctrinated into the League before they are mature enough to rationally decide things for themselves. The Team uses pure greed to override the natural social instincts of humans and pokemon alike; both are but tools to them, pokemon only more so.# When the alakazam paused, Doppler took over. "That, then, is what we fight and why. Not a simple physical enemy, or a few people whom we could reeducate, but a concept, a sociopath idea that spreads like a virus on the minds of the many. Revolution, publically tearing down the institutions that propigate our enemy and forever discrediting it in the eyes of history - *that* is the only way to win and ensure that our victory stays won. The most powerful of the misguided fools who are in thrall to this fallacy think that we are after them, personally, and so retaliate by trying to take our lives. We may have to remove them from power if they can not rescind their mistaken views, but just as we are but tools to them, so inflicting death is but a tool to us, and one we use when justified...which is unfortunately often, but *not* always." She felt their eyes on her, so she nodded understanding. But one thought tickled the back of her mind: she was fairly certain she had mentioned nothing about the pikachu to the alakazam... TBC?