From: Continue (continue2@mindspring.com) Subject: Re: [PW!] Taken out on the word GO! Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2000/06/23 Adrian Tymes wrote: >"Wait...there's one near the other end. I don't recognize her." >'Maria' waved to Minax, too far away for the moment to hear their >words... > >...until the other 'Maria' pulled her back into the line. "Mimic do. >Might not want get too friendly, if want stay safe. Rumor say she one >who kill Doppler." > >"But we saw Doppler on the ship." > >"If saw who Mimic think saw, was Doppler wannabe." > >Drake looked down the line towards Minax. "I'd take Mimic's advice. >I don't know what she's doing here, but I wouldn't be surpassed if she's >not here to win the contest." A moment of puzzlement overcame Minax. It wasn?t due to seeing Maria here, that was just taken for granted. What was puzzling was why Maria had waved at her. The last time the two had seen each other, it ended with Minax temporarily trapped in a burning building along with many other people after Maria had snuck out. Considering that Minax believed that Maria had started that fire, and hadn?t been told about it by her as a warning, Minax didn?t think that they were very friendly. With that bit of reasoning in mind, Minax?s curiosity was piqued. The only reason she could think of for this would then be Rocket business. That also then brought up the question of why would someone then quickly pull her out of sight. It added up to something that she had to investigate, in order to make sure everything was still good with her standing in Team Rocket. Minax was now on guard because of her thoughts and began to pick up several details of her environment that she had been ignoring. The first was the sea breeze causing the edges of the tent to flap consistently, which in turn caused anything more quiet than normal conversation with someone close by to be obscured. Normal scents were also hidden by the combination of the smell of the ocean carried in by the wind and far too much perfume being worn by at least one of the contestants. What assailed her senses the most was when she quickly scanned the other contestants for the swimsuit competition. Far too many of them looked alike to be a coincidence. After taking all this in, Minax now started to think that it would be better to have more than the one weapon that she had concealed. It seemed like an even better idea to talk to Maria now than it had before. Picking up Omelette to make sure that the Chansey?s costume wasn?t damaged, Minax began to make her way through the hastily-erected white tent that served as the backstage area. The frayed black robe that was all that could be seen of Drake turned slightly as he saw Minax starting to make her way across the tarp that served as a floor here. "Don?t look, but that red-headed bit of trouble that you waved to is headed this way." Before either of the "Maria"s could reflexively turn to do what they were told not to do, the Dragonite?s voice called for their attention again. "Could whichever one of you that?s going to do the talking pretend that Memuyo is Slasher?" Both "Maria"s turned to Drake. One asked "Why not have both speak as Maria?" This query was immediately followed up by the other "And why do we have to pretend that Memuyo is Slasher?" Drake?s voice was hurried as he tried to explain while Minax was still out of earshot. "If you think it?s a good idea to both pretend to be Maria at the same time, then I?ll trust your judgment. As to why we should be pretending Memuyo is another Meowth, I already had a run-in with Minax. It was as I was getting off the ship, and I don?t think she?s going to quickly forget the talking Dragonite that wrapped an Onix around her, or that he had a Meowth help him out." The hood of the robe inclined to indicate Memuyo during the end of the last sentence. "You did what?!" was the incredulous response from one of the "Maria"s to hearing what the Dragonite had just relayed. Upon getting closer, Minax could make out that Maria looked to be talking to a tall figure in a black robe. She also quickly made out a duplicate Maria next to the original. Practically everybody in Team Rocket knew that Maria had been after James for a long time. However, it was also fairly common knowledge that James ran from Maria everytime he saw her. That made it unlikely that Maria?s duplicate was Team Rocket?s number one cross-dresser. Coming up to the pair of Marias, Minax caught the last question that one of them has posed to the tall, robed figure. She figured the direct approach was best at this point. "Hello, Maria." she said in a tone that clearly indicated she wasn?t here to exchange pleasantries. "What?s going on?" TBC?