From: Foratog5AFTA (foratog5afta@yahoo.com) Subject: [PW!] Painful Choices Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2000/06/19 Foratog5 PokeWars! - Painful Choices Jessie was amazed at the courage Josh displayed against the strange alien. She had to admit that although he was pure evil, Josh sure was brave. "Now you listen to me, you overgrown rat!," Josh yelled. "You are not running this operation! I am! Giovanni put me in charge, and-" "You must understand something, Joshua," Arcturus calmly said, "that I am up much higher in the ladder of Team Rocket power. Giovanni favors me more, you foolish hormone-controlled monkey." As Josh and Arcturus continued to argue, Jessie went back into the bathroom and sat on the toilet. She felt terrible about what she did last night. Not neccicarily to Nick, but to Sarah. Jessie had to save her. But she did wonder if Nick still loved her. She wasn't so sure if she stilled loved him. She grabed ahold of her belt and scrambled for her Pokeballs. "Damn," she said quietly. "I only brought Electra. I should only need her, anyways." She wasn't sure what she was going to do, really. She felt like she had to correct what she did the night before. First, she had to save Sarah. "Hey uh, guys," she yelled, "I think I forgot my uh, my uh...(dammit Jessie, think...) my Pokeballs down at that freezer locker thing." "Damn slow apes...," Arcturus mumbled. "Let's go back and get them." * * * * * <Nicholas...> <Wha?> <Jessie needs your help...> <...But she doesn't...> <She is in trouble, Nicholas...> <But... I...> <You need to save her, Nicholas. You need to save your friend, and then you must save your sister...> <But Sarah is..> <She is still alive...> <But how?> <You must go now, down into the cargo hold in the back of the ship, Nicholas. There you will find Jessie and Sarah...> <... ... ... I don't understand. Who are you? Why are you talking to me? Why me?> <You will find out in due time, Nicholas. Just remember, you must protect your sister.> 'Nick! Nick!' <And you must care for your new friend Kimberly... you are all she has, Nicholas...> <But I barely know her..> 'Nick! Wake up!' <Soon, you will feel like you have known her all your life... you already love her, and you know that, Nicholas...> <Yeah, I love her, but I want to love Jessie too...> <I must go now, Nicholas...> <Wait! There's something I want to ask you...> 'Nick!' * * * * * "Nick! Get up!," Kim said as she poked him in the shoulder. * * * * * He pulled up his shirt, relealing a circular scar about 2 inches in diameter. "Wow," Kimberly said. "Hard to believe a spear did that. Must've hurt." "Not really. I pretty much lost it right when it went through." They were standing in the afternoon sun on the top deck of the S.S. Anne. They had been in a small hospital bed for a few weeks, and now they were released. Kim still had trouble breathing, and Nick easily got stomach cramps. "So, uh..," Kimberly said, very akwardly. "Where are you gonna go now?" Damn, that's right; Nick had nowhere to go now. He was sharing a room with Jessie, but now that was no longer an option. But there was something he had to take care of. "Kim, I have to check something out, and it may be dangerous." "No!," she yelled back. "Err, it's just that I uh... don't wanna be alone.." "Why?" Kim looked down, and then into Nick's eyes. She wanted to tell him, but she just couldn't. "I just... don't want to be alone right now..." "Please, just sit here, and I promise, I will be right back." Kim sighed. "Alright." * * * * * Nick was running down the deck. Althought he didn't know exactly where he was going, he knew he was on the right path. He let his senses guide him to the stairway that would lead him to Sarah. He ran down the stairs and up to the open door, and looked inside. Mist covered the room, so he couldn't make out what was inside. He felt a chill coming from inside, but it wasn't due to the below-freezing temperatures of the cargo bay. He could also feel his crystal necklace turn ice cold. "I don't have a good feeling about this," he said to himself. As a precaution, he took a Pokeball from his belt. He stepped into the cargo bay, and was immediatly spotted by Arcturus. "Joshua! Who is that?!" Josh looked at Nick, and smirked. "He's Sarah's sister. He's the one you want." "Where's Sarah?!," Nick yelled to Josh. "Why, she's right here," Josh said. He pointed to the large tank holding Sarah captive. Nick was awe-struck when he saw her floating in the liquid. She was sleeping peacefully. "Now!" A few Rockets armed with pistols jumped in between of Nick and Sarah. "Now, you could try to save your dear sister," Josh said, "but wouldn't you rather save Jessie instead?" Nick's heart jumped up into his throat. He looked behind Josh, and saw Jessie laying on the floor, gaged with a sock in her mouth, and with her hands tied infront of her. She was bundled up into a ball, and trying despritly to escape. Nick started to lose his mind. "Dammit, Josh!! I'll kill you!!," he screamed. He darted after him, but the Rocket henchmen stopped him. They tried to grab Nick, but he jumped a few steps back. "I don't want to put you in danger, but I have no choice." He threw down his Pokeball, releasing Vulcan. "Dammit! A Charmander!" The Rockets quickly fled the scene, running up the stairs to the deck. Nick wondered why they would be scared of a young Charmander. Now it was just Nick, Josh, and Arcturus standing. "You idiot," Arcturus hissed, "one flamethrower from that creature and this whole place comes down onto your beloved sister." After hearing this, Nick returned Vulcan to his Pokeball. Josh grabed Jessie and ran half way up the stairs, while Arcturus stepped infront of the tank. "You have a choice, Nick," Josh said. "You can either save your sister, or save your best friend." Without even thinking, Nick ran after Josh, who still had Jessie in his arms. Josh ran up the stairs and down the tight halls. Nick followed him into a large room, covered in icicles. Josh was cornered, but he had a plan. He tossed Jessie's bundled body onto the cold, hard floor, and aimed his pistol up in the air. "Stay back, Nick! One shot out of this, and I'll bring numerous sharp icicles onto her!" "Dammit," Nick mumbled. He had no way out of this one. "What do you want?" "What do I want?!" Josh laughed. "I want you dead." He pointed his gun right at Nick's forehead. Then he drew it back. "Let's make this interesting, eh? You choose; Jessie's life, or your life. Who gets to live?" "Jessie," Nick quickly said. She looked at him, and started mumbling very loudly through the sock in her mouth. "Let her go. Just... take me.." Josh pointed the gun at Nick's head and cocked it back. "Your pathetic heroics won't save you this time." Nick took one last look at Jessie. She had tears running down her face now, but Nick smiled at her. After she tried to kill him last night, Nick was now saving her life. "Goodbye.. Jessie... I'll always love you..." "Enough." Just before Josh was about to pull the trigger, Nick's crystal necklace started to flash with a bright light. Slow at first, but in a few seconds, it started to flash very fast. Then, it gave one last very bright flash that illuminated the room. And temporarily blinding Josh. "Damn! I can't see!," he cried as he fell to his knees. Josh stumbled out of the room and down the stairs. Now Nick was alone in the room with Jessie. He was too afraid to walk over to her. Maybe she still hated him. After a few seconds of staring into her eyes, her started to walk over to where she laid still on the cold ground. But he was interupted by a loud sound of glass shattering. The loud crash of the sound desrupted the icicles, and they started to shivver violently. Thinking that they would come down any second, Nick slid over to Jessie and fell onto her. The ground was so icy that they kept sliding until they hit the wall. Jessie made a 'huff' noise when she collided into the wall. Then the icicles came down. Nick covered Jessie with part of his back and his side. He sandwiched her into the wall, sheilding her from the incoming icicles. The very first one to fall almost went though Nick's ribcage. Jessie saw it land just millimeters next to him, and she started screaming through the sock. After a minute, the icicles stoped coming down, and luckily neither Nick nor Jessie were harmed. Nick carefully picked Jessie's bundled up body into his arms and walked out of the room. He had a hard time finding his way out because he couldn't stop looking at her. He was so happy now. He didn't want this feeling to go away, but it did when he walked into the main room. Shards of glass were all over the place. The large tank that was holding Sarah was praticly destoryed. And Sarah was gone. Nick sighed. He couldn't help but fell so ashamed for chosing to save Jessie instead of his own sister. But he had to admit that it felt so good to have Jessie in his arms again. He carefully walked past the pile of glass shards and walked up the stairs. When Nick walked out onto the deck, the warmth of the sun felt so good against their frostbitten skin. Nick sat down on a bench and started to remove Jessie's shackles. He was very worried about what her first words would be. Something like "Dammit Nicholas, what were you thinking?!" or "You think just because you saved me makes me like you again?!" He removed the sock that was stuffed in her mouth. "I love you Nick," Jessie quickly whispered as she embrassed him. "God, I love you so much..." She started to whine. Nick hugged her back, but he had no idea what to say. He was speachless. But he was very happy. * * * * * Kim was tired of waiting. She was walking down the deck, looking to see if she could find Nick. Eventually, she found him, hugging a girl. She felt an emense pain in her chest when she watched them hold each other. Before this, she wasn't sure about her feelings for Nick. But now she knew. She thought she loved him. She thought he was the one who could save her. But that was all wrong now. She started running down the deck, exploding into tears. She kept running until she came upon a bathroom. She barged in. Thankful that it was a single bathroom, she started to rummage though her purse. "Daaaaamn," she whinded, "where is it?" Then she found what she was looking for. "Ah," she remarked. She smirked as she removed something from her purse, and she sat down on the toilet. The razor blade reflected upon Kimberly's tear-filled eyes... TBC...