From: Ghostyhead (ghostyhead@tomgreen.com) Subject: [PW!] I Appear To Be Dead Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2000-08-23 19:18:12 PST (Previously in this suitably warped use of my imagination, our brief heroine Raine pursued her errant Haunter, Spaceghost, into the Celadon Pokémon Centre. She subjected the ghost to a timely flushing, then hid from the rather angry police in the Department Store. We rejoin the lack of plot as she, Cooper and Tom, prepare for a last stand of sorts...) PW! - I Appear To Be Dead "What?" asked Cooper, one eyebrow raised so high that his hairline was feeling threatened and beginning to recede. "Nothing. It hardly matters," said Tom, looking a little concerned at his sudden and inexplicable outburst. Cooper's naturally suspicious eyebrow returned to its usual roosting spot, and the three continued their slow, nervous progress into the electronics department, from which the sounds of screaming seemed loudest. Hefting her Abra, Raine peered around a nearby corner. In the room beyond, part of the electronics department's showroom, computers and various bits of technological ephemera lay strewn across the floor, scattered in the staff's flight from Spaceghost. The lights were out here, as well, lending the scene a spooky red glow, the only source of light being a half-demolished display stand for some new product or other, which was flickering, seemingly on the brink of giving out. "Waaak," said Meche, hefting her bone, unusually ready for a fight. Raine squinted at her. The little Marowak had been acting a little strangely ever since she'd used Cooper's misappropriated TM that morning. Raine hoped the thing hadn't had any side-effects. Cooper, for all his good points (not that she could actually name any if challenged on this), was hardly the most reliable supplier of goods, and Raine really didn't need another problem anytime soon. Putting her friend's aggression down to a shared desire to end Spaceghost's 'fun' (and, ideally, existence), Raine waved her hand, silently signalling to the others that the room seemed safe. "Pardon?" asked Tom, nearly making Raine shriek from surprise. On contemplation, she probably should have mentioned the hand-signals to everyone else earlier. "It looks..." began Raine, then realised that she was speaking just as loudly as the strangely calm youth next to her. "It looks clear," she whispered. Something wasn't quite right here, something more than the everyday predations of a rampaging ghost Pokémon. She just couldn't quite put her proverbial finger on what it was. Tom, Meche and Raine crept further into the room, the young woman wincing with every crunch of broken glass underfoot. Relaxing a little as they reached the centre of the wrecked aisles without incident, her mind registered the distinct lack of Cooper in the vicinity. Outside the faint circle of light projected by the gaudy advertisement, the room was barely visible, registering only as a collection of edges and reflections. Cooper could be anywhere, she reasoned. Just outside the light. Safe. Fine. Anywhere. It was no use. Childhood panic set in, and almost without engaging her brain, Raine opened her mouth and screamed Cooper's name, the sound dying into a series of wet sobs, Raine's body shaking with each outburst. Tom turned, surprised, and placed his arm around her shoulder, displaying an unexpected amount of compassion. Seemingly unsure of exactly what to say to the distraught young woman, Tom just edged a little closer, allowing the sobbing Raine to rest her head on his shoulder and offered her the end of his robe to dry her eyes. Making indistinct soothing noises, he wondered just how attached he could get to the young fugitive. Certainly, she seemed pleasant enough, although the two had only met a few hours before, and Tom could clearly see that she didn't deserve the attention the police seemed to be heaping on her. Nevertheless, his Jedi-attuned senses had been screaming at him since the two had met, and he was finding it difficult to shake off a sense of approaching danger. "Uh...I'm...um..." began Raine, tears still dribbling off her chin. It was at times like this that she was thankful she didn't wear much makeup. Tom just patted her shoulder. Meche, too, hadn't failed to notice her best friend's trauma, and was attempting to be comforting while watching out for ghost attacks. "Uhm... I'm...uh...sorry..." spluttered the young trainer, between breaths. "You don't need to apologise," said Tom gently. "Fate has been particularly cruel. I assure you, things will get better." Raine looked up, more surprised that anyone was actually bothering to comfort her than anything else. Still, she almost trusted the Jedi's words, an unusual enough feeling in itself. The moment was suddenly shattered (and possibly stamped on, too) by an ear-piercing scream echoing through the Department Store's eerily deserted showroom. High-pitched as it was, there was only one set of vocal chords which could have produced this particular scream. Pushing away from Tom and snatching up her Abra (who, for its part, was still fast asleep. It was dreaming about bunnies), Raine turned towards the manager's office. "Cooper," she breathed. Through the office's window, Cooper's silhouette could clearly be seen, crouching (presumably in terror) behind the desk. The shape opposite him, too, was fairly unmistakable, given that Raine and Meche didn't know too many people whose hands floated independently of their bodies (apart from old Mrs Widdecombe over in Saffron, but that was another story...). Meche held her club in both hands and gritted her teeth. "You ready, boney?" asked Raine, looking at the Marowak with genuine concern. Meche returned the look, then twisted her bone club around deftly and nodded. "Wak!" Tom, too, had retrieved his weapon and looked ready. Raine drew in a breath, then kicked open the door and strode in. "Hey! Ghosty!" Spaceghost turned, his hands clenched into hate-filled purple fists upon recognition of the voice. Upon seeing him hovering over the manager's expensive leather chair, Meche physically recoiled in shock. Raine, too, made a face. This was definitely not the Spaceghost she had nearly been impaled by that morning. His eyes, while never the most friendly things to regard, had become almost entirely white, glowing with some inner fire which seemed to spill out whenever the ghost opened his mouth. "Haunterrr...." His voice, too seemed much deeper than before. Raine gulped, then glared at the ghost. Her voice a level monotone, she aimed her 'gun' carefully. "Get him." Both Tom and Raine squeezed their respective Abras' feet at the same moment, sending two light blue psybeams lancing towards the grinning ghost, amplified by the water stones sellotaped to the unfortunate Pokemon's heads. With a wave of a hand, Spaceghost effortlessly deflected the beams, sending one crashing out through the window, showering the sales floor with even more broken glass. The other drove itself through the manager's prized chair in a small cloud of burning leather and splintered wood. Despite their situation, this made Raine sigh. Another problem for later. Tom had squeezed off a few more shots before Raine held out a hand to stop him, afraid that one of the deflected beams might hit either of them, Meche or Cooper, although the latter might not be such a bad choice of target, given the options. It was futile, anyway. None of their shots had even come close to hitting the ball of purplish evil floating in front of them. Spaceghost began to laugh, sensing that it was his turn. With a flourish, he waved his hands and unleashed a beam of blinding light towards the nervous trio, ripping chunks from the floor as it cut a straight line across the room. This probably would have been the end of it had Meche not leapt into the beam's path, swinging her club in a huge arc towards its source. With a grunt of incredible effort, the little Marowak managed to throw the supercharged Night Shade away from its intended targets, letting it crunch through a wall on the far side of the store instead. This blew a huge chunk from the far side of the store, exposing the weak daylight beyond and allowing a little rain to patter against the ruined computers inside. The shockwave from Spaceghost's show of literary pyrotechnics had, in the meantime, thrown Raine and Tom behind the manager's desk, where Cooper was currently cowering in the foetal position, whimpering faintly. "Cooper! Hey, Cooper!" hissed Raine, dabbing ineffectually at a cut on her head with one hand. "Psyduck, go!" whispered Tom, dropping his Pokéball as quietly as possible and holding a finger against his lips in a signal to the duck. Psyduck nodded its understanding and crouched with the others. Cooper, hearing Raine's voice, raised his head, revealing a nasty gash along his forehead. "Oh," he began groggily. "Hey, Raine..." "Are you okay, Coop?" muttered the young woman, prodding Cooper's head carefully. Cooper giggled inanely. "Fine, fine..." he chuckled, then laughed again. A huge flash shot over the desk, only to be deflected with a yell of "Maro!". Raine grinned at the thought of an angry Meche. True to form, the wisps of an ice beam drifted over the desk, snowing gently on the three humans and Pokémon hiding there. This was followed by a satisfying scream from the Haunter. It suddenly occurred to Raine that today might be looking up after all. With a final "...wak...", Meche was flung over the desk and hit the wall with a sickeningly wet thud. She slid slowly to the floor, and looked up at Raine apologetically. "You did great out there," said her trainer, internally panicking. Meche ashamedly held out her bone club, now reduced to a stub of partially-melted ash, before relinquishing her already-tenuous grasp on consciousness. Raine gasped, scooping the little creature up and cradling her like a child. Seemingly unaware of the events occurring around him, Cooper, squinted at his friends. "Hey, y'know what?" he began, slumping backwards, "I'm...um...pretty impressed by that ghost of yours..." Raine glared at her concussed co-worker. "You can have him..." she muttered. As Cooper struggled to line up another sentence, Spaceghost hovered into view, looming over his former trainer with pure murder in his eyes. Tom leapt to his feet with prenatural agility and began to shout an instruction to his loyal Psyduck, only to be batted aside with a sweep of the ghost's hand. "Then...let's...", began Cooper, seemingly about to faint. Tom's Psyduck began to quack maniacally, flapping as if trying to alert its companions to something. "Call...it...a..." Cooper continued. Raine saw what was coming a second too late. Spaceghost began to laugh, a broken cackle composed of fragments of his name. Psyduck was frantic. He knew what Spaceghost was saying. "Trade..." managed Cooper before passing out in a quiet heap. Raine felt like kicking him, but more interesting things were happening above. The little Haunter, for his part, was enveloped in yellow light, rays blazing outwards like a beacon. Any ships in the area, at least, had little to fear direction-wise. Within the light, the ghost's body began to change, growing larger and larger, towering over his human victims as his body stretched to form feet, dark fur, glowing, sinister eyes and just about the most evil grin Raine had ever seen outside a Disney cartoon. As the light receded, even Tom was forced to step back, such was the size of the Gengar now standing in the middle of the office. Raine, risking a glance over the desk, took in the fact that Spaceghost was now about nine feet tall. "Shit." She breathed. "Shit poopy shitty shit shit shit. Shit." "GEEEEENNNNNNN!" Raine scrambled away from the desk, Meche's prone form stuffed under one arm, as the enormous Gengar cleaved it in two with a swipe of his huge claw. The other claw, unfortunately, was left free to scoop her up and hold her, struggling in abject terror, before the monster's face. Raine could barely breathe thanks to Spaceghost's grip. She felt a pang of immense guilt despite her situation as she let Meche's unconscious body fall to the floor. Below, Tom's Psyduck was blasting confusion beams towards the immense Gengar, only to have them disappear into his huge bulk. Spaceghost didn't even bother to turn around. Struggling, Raine stared deep into the Pokemon's monstrous face, barely able to draw breath now. "Why?" she managed, not quite having enough energy for the string of horrific expletives she had intended to follow this with. In a disturbingly humanesque gesture, the ghost shrugged, then produced a long sword from somewhere deep within its body. Raine's eyes widened. ===Slow motion. With one hand, Spaceghost tosses Raine into the air, skewering her through the chest with the sword as he flings it into the depths of the store. Surprisingly little blood is shed as the hapless young woman is carried by the blade's momentum, finally stopped by one of the few computers still on its display stand. The sword drives into the monitor, producing a few pyrotechnic sparks as Raine's lifeless body sags in a generally gratuitous way. Tom runs towards the ghost, fury in his eyes. Meche raises her head.=== The young Jedi clenched his teeth, not entirely sure of how he planned to combat Spaceghost, particularly in his new shape. The reality of what had just occurred had barely dawned on him yet. Still, on some level he was aware of what he had to do, and dashed forwards, carried by his Jedi-trained agility. Only to be stopped by Meche's outstretched arm. With a glance, the little Marowak took in her deceased trainer, ghoulishly lit by a small shower of sparks, and glared at Spaceghost with all the rage she had contained within her small body. For his part, the ghost was chuckling to himself, enjoying the bloodshed and trauma of it all. This exercise in futility from the irritatingly superior Marowak just made the whole thing more amusing. Meche glanced at her left hand, where the reassuring weight of her club would normally rest. Much to her surprise (although most things had largely stopped surprising her today), the space was filled by a glittering bone club, twisting and shimmering with each tiny movement. She studied it for a second, ignoring the ghost rapidly advancing on her. Maybe it was the spirits of every Pokémon and trainer killed in battle. Maybe it was the reality of an ancient Marowak legend. Maybe it was just good timing and expensive special effects. Meche shrugged. "Wak..." And, with absolute clarity, everyone present knew the word 'die'. Officer Jenny shielded her eyes from the glare. "What the hell is going on in there?" she demanded. The deputy in front of her squirmed under the gaze of authority. "Couldn't say, to be honest," he managed, craning his neck to watch the pyrotechnics through the hole in the side of the Celadon Store. "All we know is, our suspect was hiding out somewhere in the building, with two accomplices. Then, things get a little confused. Something about a huge Gengar and an angry Marowak. Whatever, I doubt anything'll survive *that*..." The small sun which seemed to have formed inside the store was beginning to die down a little. The deputy nervously played with his collar. "Um... we can send people in, if you'd like..." Jenny stared at the man, then glanced up at the receding light. "You know, I think we could stand to leave it a *few* more minutes..." Three days had passed. Cooper, Tom, Meche and Psyduck sat quietly on the steps of the Pokémon Centre, watching the construction crews at work rebuilding the Department Store. Meche idly rolled her new, shimmering bone club along the step, from one hand to the other and back. "So..." began Cooper, wiggling his eyebrow experimentally and wincing at the pain from the bandaged cut on his head. "Maro?" "What now?" "Wak..." she shrugged. "How about you, Tom?" asked Cooper, strangely sombre. Tom, too, made a noncommittal sound and shrugged. "Well, after Officer...erm, remind me of her name again..." "Jenny." Yes, that was it, after she heard our side of events and saw what was left of the ghost, I suppose we're free to go almost anywhere. Wherever we go, though, I'm sure Psyduck and me will remember what occurred here..." "Yeah..." agreed Cooper. "Wak..." "Psy..." "I think I'm going to become a trainer," said Cooper, after a few moments' silence. "I've been in this city too long anyway. Want to come along, bonehead?" He patted Meche on the head. For once, she didn't move away. "Maro... wak, Marowak. Wak," she said firmly. "On your own, eh? Well, good luck, Meche. Guess I'll see you later. You too, Tom." "Yes. May the for..." A huge sweatdrop rolled off the side of Tom's head and splashed quietly on the concrete. "Um... I mean, may the farms be with you. Farms. Yes. They're always good. To have...um...with you..." "Bye, Tom." "Farewell, Cooper. And Meche." "Marowak." Somewhere else, a modem flashed and beeped. CONTINUED, IN A MANNER OF SPEAKING, IN '[CG] RAINE EVANS' IN AFD (alt.fan.digimon)