From: Karnivax (karnivax@my-deja.com) Subject: [PW!] The Maleficent Seven, Part 4 Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2000-10-15 07:50:07 PST (OOC: Last part!) Despite the fact that he had seen it once before, Kyle watched with morbid fascination as Vincenzo underwent a rather painful-looking Scyther transformation. The entranced Jessica watched as well, and her blank expression remained unaltered. As wings burst from Enzo's shoulder blades, Kyle remarked, "What do you hope to accomplish, Enzo? Wildwing's fully Amnesia'd up...one glancing blast from his Ice Beam, and you're done!" "Then I'll make it a point not to get hit!" Enzo snapped as the last of his hair fell out. He quickly removed both of the Pokéball belts he was wearing before his still-human right arm became a scythe. His shoes came apart at the seams, and his toes fused to form clawed tridactyl feet. His hips adjusted as an insectoid abdomen appeared. His head became spiny and vaguely saurian, his body, segmented. Obsidian-like scales replaced his human skin. Wildwing the Psyduck observed curiously the finishing touches on Enzo's conversion. Enzo the Scyther made an impressive leap from where his trainer tower once stood to the center of the clay arena. Wildwing sweatdropped profusely as the vicious-looking beast came within a breath's distance and hissed menacingly. "Ice Beam!" Kyle immediately commanded. "Duuuck..." Wildwing closed his eyes and took a deep breath...but when he opened his eyes again to zero in on his target, Enzo was no longer in front of him. Enzo had taken to the air...and Wildwing looked up just in time to get struck with a barrage of razor-edged scales from Enzo's Wing Attack. The awkward waterfowl stumbled back and accidentally launched a gigantic Ice Beam straight up at the ceiling. As the mighty wave of icy energy spread along the stadium ceiling, a frozen lamp broke loose and hit the ground right next to Wildwing. "One shot," Kyle said. "One shot is all it'll take..." Wildwing flicked away the scales that had gotten wedged in his tender flesh. He started to gather power again, but this time he kept his eyes open. Another tremendous Ice Beam spewed forth from Wildwing's bill. However, the fast-flying Enzo deftly dived right under the blast in midair. The ebon Scyther then went on a series of swoops to pelt Wildwing with more wing-scales. No amount of frantic dodging saved Wildwing from getting hit by every one of the pointy projectiles. As the last bullet from Enzo's Wing Attack nailed him from behind, Wildwing fell flat on his face. As Wildwing got back to his feet, he noticed that his beak had been bent up in front of his face like that of another animated duck. Wildwing folded his bill back down and saw with horror that Enzo was hovering in the air and taking in energy for something very powerful. "This is the opportunity we need!" Kyle shouted. "Freeze his ass...uh, assets!" Kyle had made a promise to Jessica some time ago that he would kick his cussing habit. Wildwing powered up an Ice Beam as fast as he could, but Enzo's slow-moving blast still came first. It was quite possibly the largest Hyper Beam Kyle had seen thus far. Wildwing's counter-beam came none too soon. The Ice Beam collided with Enzo's Hyper Beam less than three feet from the duck's bill. Despite the Ice Beam's looking even larger than the Hyper Beam, the dueling blasts were in almost perfect equilibrium for several seconds. Eventually equilibrium faded as the two Pokémon started to wear down. Wildwing's face turned bright red as he tried to maintain his Ice Beam. He was gradually losing his footing from the force. The blasts wavered, but neither seemed to be really overpowering the other. Finally Enzo expelled the last of his energy all at once in what sounded like a cough. His Hyper Beam increased in size briefly, pushing Wildwing's Ice Beam back. Then the Hyper Beam faded to nothing, and the Ice Beam was at last able to continue on its way. It hit Enzo right in the thorax. The black Scyther fell to the ground as ice started to surround him. In utter disbelief, Enzo raised his scythes skyward. "Beaten...by a Psyduuuuuck!!!" Enzo cried right before his face froze over. The silence at that point was deafening. Kyle walked up to the frozen Enzo with some trepidation and tapped it on the muzzle. No response. "I warned you," Kyle said to the motionless Enzo. "Didn't I warn you?" Kyle turned toward Wildwing to beam the duck back into his Pokéball, but the exhausted Wildwing, down on his almost nonexistent knees, was waving at Kyle not to do so. Kyle barely had time to wonder why this could be before the answer came. The whole stadium lit up with the distinct glow of Pokémon evolution. Wildwing's head turned spiny. His bill became a sharp, narrow beak. His feathers turned from yellow to blue. His stubby arms lengthened, his fingers became webbed, his claws grew. His legs underwent equivalent changes. His tail doubled in length. His elliptical eyes changed into more intelligent-looking triangular ones. As the now-taller Wildwing stood up on his reconfigured legs, a small red jewel appeared on his forehead. After a few seconds to inspect the changes, Wildwing winked and flashed a thumbs-up. "Gubu!" he quacked. Kyle activated his ridiculously outdated Pokédex while Wildwing struck macho poses. "Golduck," the Pokédex said. "A duck Pokémon. This Pokémon is generally much less awkward than its predecessor Psyduck. While a pure Water-type Pokémon, Golduck has often displayed limited psychic powers. The small jewel on its head is said to be the source of its power. In the wild, Golduck is often mistaken for the legendary river beast Kappa." "Now that that's over with," Kyle commented, recalling Wildwing, "it's time to claim the spoils!" First, Kyle headed over to where Enzo had dropped the two Pokéball belts earlier. He identified which of the two was his, then, with his Pokédex, he proceeded to return all of his B-team's Pokéballs to cyber- storage to make way for the return of his A-team. After that, he put his primary belt back on and attached his Pokédex to it. Then Kyle strode right up to the person who could have been Jessica and looked her straight in the eye. The statuesque figure made not the slightest motion outside of the standard blinking and breathing. "You don't look quite like the Ditto," Kyle pointed out. "The Ditto had normal Jessica eyes. Yours look more...drugged. Like Jessica's did during Enzo's earlier attempt to marry her." He paced back and forth a bit. "And if you were the Ditto, you'd be beating the crap out of me right now..." He pounded one fist against one open palm. "You *must* be the real deal!" He took Jessica by the hand. "I bet my dad knows some way to cure a Hypno trance..." It was then that Kyle noticed out of the corner of his eye Spellbinder the Hypno trying to slip by undetected. "...or, better yet..." Kyle let go of Jessica and whirled around. Spellbinder let out a squeal when he realized he had been spotted. The Hypno ran as fast as he could toward the nearest exit, but the tall Kyle was much too quick for him. Kyle, ironically enough, got the Hypno in a sleeper hold. "Hypno...hypno!" Spellbinder grunted as he struggled to free himself. "Give it up," Kyle snarled at the Hypno. "Undo your Hypnosis now, and I won't get violent." "Hypnooo..." the cowardly Pokémon sighed. Spellbinder grudgingly gave the thumbs-up, and Kyle loosened the hold just enough to release him. Kyle watched Spellbinder like a hawk as the furry Pokémon stood before Jessica. The Hypno chanted and concentrated for what seemed like an eternity. At last, he clapped loudly in Jessica's face. Jessica's eyes immediately returned to normal. She clutched her head and wobbled a bit before Kyle rushed to hold her steady. "Kyle..." she said at a volume that was little more than a whisper. "The last thing I remember...is that Hypno. Am...am I saved?" "Well, yeah," Kyle responded. Jessica leaned forward and planted a kiss on Kyle's lips. "Thank you," said she. "That's the second time you've -" "This still can't compete with your taking a Fire Blast for me in Indigo," Kyle interrupted. "Don't be modest," Jessica told him. "Now...what happened?" "I'll explain as much as I can later," Kyle answered. "But for now...well, I'm not suggesting we run...but I am suggesting we get out of here as quickly as possible." "I'm game," Jessica said with a worn-out smile. She offered one hand for Kyle to take. Kyle took it, and together they strode toward the exit to Enzo's arena. Spellbinder walked up to the thoroughly frozen Enzo and wondered how to thaw him out. A few minutes later, after navigating the mansion's long hallways, Kyle and Jessica were heading hand-in-hand across Enzo's football-field- sized front yard to the exit gate. Kyle was in deep thought as he headed down the path and looked up at the clear night sky. He took occasional glances at Jessica as he pondered doing something he had meant to do for quite some time now. He quickly went over the words in his head. "Hey, look," Jessica piped up, interrupting Kyle's rumination. "I can see Draco..." She pointed out her favorite constellation. _What the hell,_ Kyle thought. _Now's as good a time as any._ He stopped walking. Jessica did the same. For several seconds after that, the two just looked at each other. Finally Kyle removed his backpack and got down on one knee. Jessica's heart skipped a beat. "Jessica," Kyle began. "This goes right back to the beginning, when you suggested destiny had brought us together. I've never been a big believer in otherworldly forces...but it's become clear you were right all along. We keep each other going. Were it not for the consolation you gave me after Torrasque's death, I might have given up training altogether. Were it not for your selfless act during the Pokémon League Games, I'd be a pile of ash in someone's Dustbuster right now." Kyle allowed a brief pause, perhaps for Jessica to react to this dark joke, but Jessica just looked ready to faint. "Well, you know where this is going, so I won't belabor the point...Jessica, will you marry me?" Jessica at that point had to decide between what she wanted and what her parents wanted. "I...I..." she stammered. She looked up, as if the stars were about to tell her what to do. While Jessica struggled to form an answer, Kyle watched as every item of Jessica's clothing apart from her Pokéball belt underwent a sudden color change. He had a pretty good idea why, but he was reluctant to tell Jessica for fear of his question going unanswered. Finally he swallowed his selfishness and warned, "Jessica, your -" It was too late. Jessica's clothing simply melted off, forming a gelatinous pink puddle on the ground and leaving her with nothing but her belt and accompanying Pokéballs and Pokédex. The pink puddle at Jessica's feet quickly reformed into Morpha the Ditto, who jumped up, licked Jessica's face, and bounced away laughing a high-pitched Ditto laugh. Jessica looked at the retreating Morpha, then at Kyle. Kyle turned away as quickly as he could. "I - I didn't see anything!" he lied. "Of course..." Jessica said with surprising calmness. "No, really, I didn't -" "Of course I will!" Jessica finished her statement. "You...will?" The message took a few seconds to click in Kyle's brain. He quickly stood up, still with his back turned. "You will!!!" he rejoiced. He was about to turn around to hug her, but he restrained himself. Instead, Jessica walked up and embraced him from behind. "Sorry to keep you waiting," Jessica said with her head on Kyle's shoulder. "I guess Enzo was going for the last laugh, telling his Ditto to Transform into my clothing just so, in case you managed to rescue me, I'd at least be publicly humiliated on the way out of here..." Kyle was a little scared that Jessica did not seem to be bothered at all by her current situation. "But you know, I've been humiliated countless times in the same way by my Scyther transformations...I should be used to this." "So - so - so where do we go from here?" wondered a very uncomfortable Kyle. "Should I...go back in and try to find where Enzo put your real clothes?" "If you want to," Jessica responded. "But it's not that important. I still have my Pokémon..." "Yes, I think I want to anyway," Kyle said sheepishly. Jessica let go of Kyle, who then knocked a Pokéball from his belt. The Pokéball opened and released Espio the white Charizard. Espio rubbed his eyes. "Want me to fly?" he asked, stifling a yawn. Kyle pointed over his shoulder in Jessica's general direction. "Just keep her warm for a while," Kyle commanded. Kyle patted Espio on the head before briskly heading back into Enzo's mansion. Espio shrugged. Then he sat down and positioned his tail-flame near Jessica. About fifteen minutes later, Jessica was telling Espio about weddings ("You humans, with your crazy elaborate mating rituals," Espio remarked) when Kyle came dashing out of the building with something tucked under his arm. To keep himself from seeing Jessica, his head was turned a bit to the side, and only one of his eyes was open. "I found your costume from the otaku convention in one of the bathrooms," Kyle happily announced. He held Jessica's replica plug suit, along with its accompanying hairpins, up in front of his face. He closed his eyes as soon as Jessica took the items from him. "Thank you, Kyle, this will do nicely," she said sweetly. She took her belt off and slipped into the rather baggy plug suit. Then she pressed a button on the suit's wrist, and instantly the suit shrunk to its normal skin-tight size. After that, she put on the hairpins, mainly because the suit did not have pockets to stow them in. "Okay, you can look now," Jessica announced as she put her belt back on. The second Jessica was dressed again, Kyle rushed toward her and partook of the hug he had missed earlier. Then he lifted the surprised Jessica up in his arms and strode toward Espio. "Let's head home," Kyle told the white dragon. "We've got a wedding to plan." (OOC: That's the last we'll see of Vincenzo Larufa...now it's time to check back in on Panopticon! Woo!)