From: Cat-Gonk (catgonk@azureheights.com) Subject: [PW!] The Ghost Who Walks. Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2000-10-18 03:57:58 PST Night Shade phased back into existence, and collapsed to the dirt road in a tired, exhausted heap. Her host body had taken far too much strain, having been used to perform feats of aerobatics it was otherwise unused to in the past couple of hours. Sadly, sixteen year old girls simply couldn't spar with packs of highly-trained Pokemon. [PW!] The Ghost Who Walks - By Cat-Gonk. After she had caught her breath, Night Shade picked herself up off the ground and dusted herself off. Now that she had a chance to look herself over, Kirsty's body wasn't all that bad. She wouldn't attract much attention, but she didn't have the same allure Night Shade was used to in her previous life. With any luck she could substitute beauty for innocent girlishness, but it was something that needed to be worked on. Two new Pokemon, not bad for her first caper in, what was it, thirty or fourty years? She wasn't sure of the time, being dead as well as teleportation under her own mental power had robbed her of most of her awareness at the moment, she could have been immaterial for days. Teleportation was a fickle process at best, she couldn't be sure where she'd end up, let alone when. On a path in plains somewhere, a couple of houses in the distance, the outskirts of Saffron? The skycrapers on the horizon seemed to confirm this. The Pokemon could wait. Kadabra used to manipulate their minds in order to sway them to Team Rocket's control, so she would most likely have inherited that ability as well. One was a Hitmonchan and the other was a Hypno, she could sense that already. Being a Pokemon definately had its advantages, she thought, as well as her psychic powers. Charizard was on his way, she was sure of that. It would probably take him the better part of the day to make his way out from Rosetta and to wherever his mistress was now. Now that he knew she was alive, he should be able to sense her and find his way back. Two people were approaching from down the road. Night Shade didn't have enough energy for another fight, maybe she'd let them pass. The couple approaching her were definately Pokemon trainers, the tell-tale outlines of Pokeballs were visible beneath their jackets. They had been silent until they saw Night Shade, at which point they began whispering to each other as they walked towards her. Each wore a heavy greatcoat, and generally dark clothing to contrast their brightly-dyed hair. One was female, the other male. This whole scene seemed oddly familiar to Night Shade. They were drawing closer, only about fifty metres away. "Ready?" "Let's do it." In an instant, the couple discarded their jackets to reveal Team Rocket uniforms. Two Pokeballs arced through the air and landed a couple of metres away from Night Shade. "Okay little girl," said the female, "we don't have time for the motto today. Just give me your Pokeballs and we might let you keep walking." To re-inforce the point, a Magneton and a Sandslash materialised in front of Night Shade, the Magneton crackling with electrical energy and the Sandslash growling as it prepared to pounce. The woman would have been around seven years older than Kirsty, the man maybe ten. To them, this all seemed too easy, to rob a weak, defenseless little girl out in the middle of nowhere. "I could kill them both in a heartbeat," thought Night Shade. "If they don't do the smart thing and run, I think I'll have some fun with these two." "Well? Hurry up or we'll take the Pokemon ourselves!" angrily voiced the male. There was a holster at his waist, attached to his Pokebelt. A knife? A gun? Night Shade lacked both, but her psionics were in all probability stronger than either of the two. "You have no idea, do you?" said Night Shade. "I'm one of yours. Now be on your way, I have better things to deal with than newly-recruited children like yourselves." As it was coming from Kirsty, Night Shade's speech lacked the menacing tone it once possessed. "Wyatt," laughed the man, "I think she wants to fight." "Earp, so do I." The Pokemon infront of her drew back, and prepared to attack her. Night Shade laughed, and went into a combat stance. "They still codename you lot after cowboys?" said Night Shade, smiling. "I knew at least twenty Earps back in the old days." "What the hell is she talking about?" said Wyatt. "Magneton! Paralyse her with Thunder Wave!" The magnet Pokemon brought its six magnets together, then threw them out wide in order to induce a huge magnetic field. Tendrils of electricity raced towards Night Shade, who disappeared into thin air. "What the?" Earp scanned the surroundings for their victim. "Where did she go? Sandslash! Use Dig and nail her when she appears!" Sandslash burrowed into the ground, and lay in wait. Reaching to his waist, he attempted to draw his gun but his holster was empty. Something wasn't right. This was all going horribly wrong. They weren't just intimidating some little child here, they were fighting a force more powerful than either of the two could comprehend. "I'm over here, you fools." Night Shade held up Sandslash's corpse, the claws twisted backwards at an angle that rendered them useless, its legs hanging lifeless from the body. It had choked to death underground, Night Shade had used a Psywave to bury it under a pile of immovable dirt. Discarding the dead Pokemon, Night Shade raised a hand forwards and fired a blast of mental energy into the Magneton, who had only just wheeled around to face his target. The magnet Pokemon took the blast of Night Shade head-on, and disintegrated, the welding, screws, nuts and bolts that were holding it together simply fell apart. "They'll both be okay, I'll get them to a Pokecentre," said Night Shade. "It's a pity that neither of you can be healed so easily." Wyatt made a grab for her gun. Night Shade let loose another Psywave, which locked the weapon into its holster. While she frantically pulled at the immovable stock of the weapon, Night Shade brought up the gun she had stolen from Earp, and fired. Instantly, Wyatt fell to the ground clutching her right leg, bleeding heavily where the knee had been. "I gave you a chance. Both of you." Earp turned tail and ran, Night Shade blasted him with a surge of mental energy. He didn't even have a chance to scream, he just fell to the ground dead. "Yet you didn't take it. Tell me," Night Shade sat down in the ground near Wyatt, " why is that? You thought I was only a little girl, didn't you?" Wyatt was in too much pain to answer. Somehow, if she could just grab her gun, she might be able to escape with her life. "That's nothing serious. You could still walk again with surgery. Are the Rocket medics still as psychopathic as they used to be?" Still nothing, Wyatt was slowly reaching for her weapon. "You're still in too much pain to answer, I know. It happened to me once. See, I've already died once. It was fun while it lasted, but I don't think I'll be doing it again. I'm immortal, you understand?" Almost there, she just had to draw it now... "Oh, and don't even think of trying to pull that piece of trash you call a weapon on me. Even if you could hurt me with it, you'd only convince me to kill you." Wyatt drew, and emptied the weapon. Bulletholes lacerated Kirsty's body, each blossoming a bright red as it was inflicted. Night Shade didn't even flinch. "You know, that wasn't smart. Now I'm going to have to find a new body. I'd take yours, but you're a cripple and too chubby anyhow." Wyatt slumped to the ground, lifeless. What was she facing? What superpower had they encountered? What kind of a daemon was sitting right next to her, mentally removing the metal slugs from her body and healing the wounds? "Hey, who runs Team Rocket nowadays? Juan? Michael? What about that Giovanni guy, is he still around?" Kirsty's body had stopped bleeding. Purple energy trailed up into the sky from where the bullet wounds had been. Night Shade took the weapon from Wyatt's lifeless hand, and tucked it into her belt. "I'll be needing somewhere to keep these, so I'll just take your holsters. You have more Pokemon? This one's a Jigglypuff, I always wanted one of these. Your partner doesn't have any others though." She seemed so calm, so relaxed, despite the fact that she'd just killed one man, two Pokemon, crippled Wyatt and taken a whole nine rounds from a pistol at point-blank range. "I know what you're thinking. I always did warm too much to people who were going to be dead. Oh well." Placing her hand on Wyatt's head, she stroked her skin and her hair. "It'll all be over soon." Her fingers closed around Wyatt's forehead, and a bright blast of mental energy shot out from around Night Shade's palm. She died in an instant, feeling nothing but a surge of whiteness as her mind crumbled under the assault. Night Shade examined the bodies, searching through their backpacks, putting anything of interest into her own. She had dragged Earp's corpse next to that of his partner. Giovanni would find them. He'd then come and find her, and she could get her hands on some equipment, some Pokemon and some team members before setting off on her next foray. It had been too quick, too easy. The memories of her past life suggested to her that killing a person was usually a long and arduous process, but this had taken up no more than a few minutes of her time. "Charizard should get here any minute now," she thought. "I wonder what's happened to him in the past few decades?" And with that, she sat down on the side of the path, and waited. TBC...