From: Continue (continue2@mindspring.com) Subject: [PW!] No need for Money Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2000/03/04 [NS] Hopefully there won't be any formatting problems with this one. The doors to the Celadon Mega Mart opened for thousands of people every day, but almost none of them had to duck their head to make sure they didn’t hit it as they exited. Drake held up a coin in his clawed hand and contemplated it. "This is not going to be enough for my next meal." The Dragonite put the coin into the pocket of the coat that he was now wearing. "Good thing they have a Big ‘n Tall shop," he flapped his wings, as if he were stretching "but I’m still guessing that don’t have many Dragonites for customers, what with the holes I had to cut in this. At least it keeps the cold out." Some of the jaded residents of Celadon City actually noticed that there was a large pokemon in a coat standing in the middle of the sidewalk and talking to itself, in English no less. Those same people saw it reach into a leather bag that it carried and pull out a pad of paper and pen. "Pokeballs, check." He crossed an item off the list. "Watergun TM for my as-of-yet-unnamed Shellder, check. Same for my Thunder TM and coat." Upon sighting the last part of his list he frowned. "Of course they don’t sell what I’m really going to need. Figures that that TM can only be bought in one city." Drake replaced the paper and pen in his bag and leaped into the air. After a few flaps of his wings, he was able to catch the warm air rising from the active city below. He began to gracefully glide through the canyons formed by the buttes of concrete and glass that were the city. "Now where exactly would I find some alley Meowths around here?" The Dragonite’s head swayed back and forth as he scanned the city below. After a half-hour of aimless meandering, Drake found that he was probably closer to finding a nuclear bomb than a Meowth. He thought about the situation and something came to mind. "What the eyes fail to see, the nose knows. A stupid expression, but everything needs food. With a typical predator’s sense of smell, they’ll probably be where the smell from the restaurants is the strongest." Opening himself to the various smells wafting up from the streets below, Drake found a trail for the most pungent of smells – seafood. As he came closer he found that it was coming from not one, but two seafood restaurants. They were situated close together. One, an older-looking local store, occupied a prime spot on the corner of a block. The other appeared to be a newer franchise establishment situated on the block next to the other one, but in the middle of that block.. He spotted what he was looking for while he circled above the franchise restaurant. More unwanted food occupied their dumpsters, which attracted what Drake sought. Three Meowths were rooting through the plentiful pickings in these dumpsters. The shadow of a Dragonite passing overhead caused them to pause as they were alerted to another presence. The second passing was a signal to them. Their instincts told them that it meant something was interested in them. Combined with past experiences of those that had assailed them for various reasons, it was a signal to escape. The Meowths bolted from the dumpster and down the alley, in- between the buildings. They quickly turned the corner and headed down the block, amidst the not-so-scenic view of the backs of various buildings. Drake wasn’t giving them the illusion that they were losing him. His shadow blanketed them as he effortlessly glided along. The trio made a sharp turn down an alley that threw Drake for a second. In the time it took for him to turn, he heard a crashing sound. When he looked in the alley, only one Meowth remained. It was facing a huge pile of fallen crates that blocked the alley. It looked as if this chase was over as he swooped in for a landing not more than 20 feet from his target. The Meowth faced the pile of fallen crates that he had to leap back from to avoid being crushed. He yelled after one of his companions "Me OWTH! <You KLUTZ!>". This was a serious insult for a member of such a graceful species. It was also accurate in this instance, since that same companion had run into the crates and caused him to be trapped. It was too high to jump to the top and by the time he realized this, the shadow fell over him again. Drake watched the Meowth turn around after he landed. It looked up at him and its eyes widened. "Ow-w-wth? <Wh-wh-what do you want?>". The reply came deep, and ominous "You." The Meowth flattened against one of the crates behind him almost instantly, standing on hind legs with front legs spread across the face of the crate. "Me? Meowth? <Me? Why me?>" "Your species can make money appear out of almost nothing and I am short on funds at the moment." The Meowth seemed to relax almost instantly. In fact, a smug expression spread across it’s face as it resumed standing on all fours then comfortably parked its posterior on the ground. "Owth owth meow <So what do I get in return?>" It looked to Drake as if the Meowth were fully aware of the value of his position. The Dragonite was prepared to deal with this one way or another. "Unlike you, I can speak one of the humans’ languages. I can tell them what I want from them in exchange for the money, where you can’t. I can also carry around more than one at a time. This lets me purchase things which you would not be able to get on your own." The Meowth thought about this for a second. "Ow, me? Meowth ow owth.<That sounds good, but why do you want it? You don’t look like you would have too much trouble hunting up some food>". "You’re right, I’m looking for something more. I’m planning on starting my own business—" This elicited a response so quick that it cut the original statement off before it could be finished. "Me me me meowth. <Make me your partner and we got a deal.>" Drake smiled, he was the one in control now. "Fair enough. One thing though, you seem very eager to be in business. Why is that?" "Owth me ow meowth, Meowthow me ow. <It was part of what my mother taught me about getting the good stuff, Meowthor rest her soul.>" He bowed his head as he finished. The Dragonite cocked his head after realizing what he had heard. "Meowthor? Isn’t that a human god?" "Me, meow ow me Meowth th. Me ow Meowth owth ow.<Yeah, my father lived among the humans for awhile and liked the idea that there was a Meowth god. He tried to spread it among the wild Meowths living outside the city.>" "So where is he now?" The feline pokemon performed the closest it could to a shrug "Owth Meowthow me. Owth MEOWTH ow ow ow Meowthow. Meow ow. Meow Meowthow, MEOWTH owww. Ow owth. <With Meowthor is my guess. Y’see a Snorlax came stumbling around and accidentally smashed his shrine to Meowthor. He knocked it out with several Thunder attacks. While he was dedicating the victory to Meowthor, the Snorlax fell on him. There weren’t too many converts after that.>" Drake sweatdropped and blinked a few times after hearing that. "Um, okay. So, since your father had been among humans, did he give you a name?" "Me <Yeah>," the Meowth nodded "Memuyo <Money muyo>". The Dragonite did a double-take when hearing this. "That wasn’t Meowth. How did you manage that?" "Meow <Dad again>," Memuyo responded "Ow me. Ow meowth me meow ow. Meow ow me ow owth. Meow me meow.<He was strict about doing things right. Even pronouncing the few words he picked up from human languages. He told me that the name was something I should take to heart and pronounce right. It means ‘no need for money’.>" "Okay. Well, Memuyo, first we’re going to need to have you make us some money, then it’s on to Saffron." Drake reached into his bag and pulled out a pokeball. He readied it by hitting the button to enlarge it. "Meowth! Me ow ow?! <Hey? What are you doing?>" The Dragonite looked at Memuyo’s fear-filled countenance and stopped as he realized what he was doing. He cursed himself for thinking like a trainer. He knew all too well that a being that truly thought for itself shouldn’t be imprisoned against its will. He lowered the pokeball and spoke to the frightened Meowth. "My apologies, I was acting without thinking. Listen to what I have to say, though. If you let yourself be taken into the pokeball, you become registered as mine. I’m won’t hold you to that, but it means no one else will be able to take you after you’re registered to me. I can also hold you inside of it when you’re tired or injured. While you’re inside, you cannot be further harmed." Memuyo still seemed to have some trepidation over the idea. "Me meow, me? <You’ll let me out just after that, right?>" "Yes." The feline nodded his approval at the response and Drake tossed the pokeball at it. Memuyo disappeared in a flash of red and the Dragonite removed the pokedex from his bag. After entering a name for his newly-registered pokemon he replaced the unit in his bag. He then released the Meowth from the pokeball. It looked at the familiar surroundings and quickly checked itself out. "Ready to go?" Memuyo once again nodded his approval. <TBC> Jeff Hauser* *Sig Sold Seperately