From: Time Lady (sailrgal@swbell.net) Subject: Re: [PW!] If it's Thursday, it must be Rosetta Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2000/06/06 TheRunt wrote: > "All right -- that's enough!" scolds Sarah Jane as she swam over to the edge > of the lake. Damian suddenly realized that she was getting out of the water. > Water dripped from Sarah Jane's strapless swimsuit as she strode over to the > feuding caregivers. "Stop it you two!" she commands, snatching the crying baby > Aerodactyl away from Shields and Berry. "Look what you've done! You've upset > Pteryx!" She glances over at Damian. "Umm...Damian...your nose is bleeding..." > "Chansey!" shouts Berry as she notices a potential patient. She rushes over > to Damian and begins fussing over him. > Damian, who's face had turned a bright shade of, tried to fend off the > Chansey's attention. "I'm fine..." he insists. > "Don't tell me," Runt says, trying to contain his laughter. "You thought > that," unable to hold back any longer, he breaks into Laughter. > "What?" asks Sarah Jane as she sets down Pteryx and begins drying off. > "He thought you were skinny dipping," explains Runt, trying to recover. > "Well, he should know better than that." > Seeing their surrogate mother was out of the water, Cuddles and Spunky dash > over. As Berry was occupied, Shields grabs one of the towels and begins drying > the Nidorans, much to their surprise. No way he was going to let That Chansey > worm her way in on his business. Pteryx and the Nidos were His charges, not > hers. By the time Damian manages to convince Berry that he didn't need her to > take care of him, Sarah Jane was dressed and Cuddles and Spunky were glaring at > Shields. > "How about I give you the full tour of the grounds?" suggests Sarah. > "Sure, why not?" says Runt as he climbs out of the pond, "Come on guys..." As Runt dried himself off, a Pidgeotto flapped over and landed in front of Sarah Jane, a note in its beak. "Thank you Hato-kun," she said as she patted the Pidgeotto and took the note. Briefly she read the note, then shook her head with a sigh. "What's wrong?" said Damian as he continued to fend off Berry. "Kat and that friend of hers decided to leave. She wrote that they had something to take care of, but didn't say what," replied Sarah Jane. "Weird," said Runt. "I hope they're okay," added Sarah Jane. "Are you ready to go?" Both guys nodded as Sarah Jane settled Pteryx in her carrier. Roo scampered along with Spunky, while Cuddles followed. Shields lingered behind briefly, trying to remind Berry that the Chansey's job was at this time to care for the injured Kingler in the pond. "The grounds are pretty extensive," explained Sarah Jane. "They've been in the Eckert family for several generations, even before the university was around. The land is set up to be more like natural habitats, rather than divided into particular sections. That way Pokemon that coexist naturally can continue to do so." "Are the pokemon called into their pokeballs at night?" asked Runt. "That would be nearly impossible, even with all the research students helping," explained Sarah Jane. "We don't only board pokemon for trainers. Other pokemon here are part of breeding programs, or other studies at the university. Scientists at the university modified Bill's storage method. Notice all the chains with the pokeballs that the pokemon wear around here?" "I was wondering about that," admitted Damian. "They work in conjunction with the white button on the Pokedex. When a pokemon is called, it's pulled into the miniature pokeball on their necks, then transported to their trainer while the other pokemon is returned here. If I hadn't released all my pokekmon to roam the grounds, I'd demonstrate," she said. "I get the picture," said Damian. "The pokemon don't stay in electronic storage then." A flock of Pidgeys, startled by the visitors, takes to flight. "Researchers are still studying the effects of computerized storage versus free roaming. So far they haven't reached any definite findings. But here, free roaming pokemon get some limited training. The boarders have to agree to allow their pokemon to fight practice battles against Grandma's students and help in her classes. Grandma's very thorough in her training classes." "Doesn't that kind of mess up the experiments then?" asked Runt. Sarah Jane shook her head. "Test subjects for that particular trial are kept separate so the data isn't contaminated. If I remember correctly, they're trying one breed at a time to see what the effects are." "What's that building?" asked Damian as he pointed. "That's where they test pokemon nutrition," she replied. "They test what sorts of things pokemon eat, what diets are best for each species, and what tastes they like." "We've barely started and my head is spinning," said Damian. A Fearow landed at a blue bowl on top of a large pole, scooped up some of the food, then flew off. A little while later, a Pidgeot landed at a yellow bowl and did the same. "What gives?" asked Runt? "The Fearows have been conditioned to go to the blue, while the Pidgeots go to the yellow. The two have totally different diets. Since neither of them ate at the bowl, I'd guess they were taking the food back to their nests," surmised Sarah Jane. "Pokemon breed here too?" said Runt. "It's just like the Pokemon are in their natural environments. If they find a mate, it's all part of nature," said a research student that approached them with a bucket in his hand. "What's that?" asked Damian as Cuddles and Spunky came up to sniff at the bucket. "We're trying to test if the diets of the Nido series pokemon. I'm trying to discover if the diets and tastes of the Nidoking and Nidoqueen are different from Nidorans, Nidorinos, and Nidorinas. My hypothesis is that the Nidoking and Nidoqueen, after evolution, adopt different diets due to their becoming a combined Poison/Ground type. Do you mind if I see if your Nidorans will eat this?" As the research student explained his idea, Spunky tried to jump into the bucket. "Looks like Spunky's hungry, so I think it'll be okay," agreed Sarah Jane. "GREAT!" exclaimed the student as he whipped a pad and pencil out of his pocket and began making notes. Damian and Runt watched with interest as Cuddles patiently let the student measure and weigh her. Spunky, however, wanted to get right to the food and refused to be still. It took a lot longer to get Spunky's measurements down. Finally the two were allowed to go to the bowl the student set down. Spunky began devouring the food as fast as he could. Cuddles ate much more delicately. The student took notes excitedly. "I can't usually get this much data with Nidorans this young. The parents are extremely protective." "It would probably be at least 6 more months before they left the den in a normal situation," agreed Sarah Jane. Roo, curious to what the other two were doing, hopped over and sniffed at the bowl. Spunky growled, but Cuddles nosed over a piece of the food for the baby Kangaskhan to try. "Is the food safe for Kangaskhans?" asked Runt apprehensively. "In the Safari Zone, Nidorans and Kangaskhan live side by side," said the research student. "And both are vegetarians. The only difference would be in if the Kangaskhan liked the same tastes." The student watched in amazement as Roo nibbled at the food nugget, then took a second one. "This is fantastic." He began scribbling more notes, then measuring Roo. "My next project will have to be on similarities between the diets of the Nidos and Kangaskhan! Then, after I graduate, I will go on to become the world's leading authority on Pokemon nutrition and I will have the world's biggest Pokechow company! I'll have my name plastered all over the bottles and beat Brock's recipes into the ground! AHHAHHAHHAH!" "Excuse him," said Sarah Jane with a huge sweatdrop over her head. "I think he's been working a little too hard." She and Runt collected their young Pokemon, then moved off from the pokemon nutrition building. "So.... what would you guys like to see next?"