From: Cat-Gonk (catgonk@azureheights.com) Subject: [PW!] The Memory Remains. Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2000-12-08 17:33:48 PST "Do you want a Pokeball, or are you okay with walking?" asked Night Shade. It could have just been the body she was in, but Night Shade was definately starting to feel different. She remembered treating Charizard with respect, but she just felt a little strange now that each could fully understand what the other was saying. <We should reach Saffron by nightfall,> said Charizard. <It isn't that far off.> He could have flown, but he'd never carried a person before. [PW!] The Memory Remains. - By Cat-Gonk. "What do you think I should do with the Pokemon?" Night Shade took out three Pokeballs from her belt. "I could give them to Team Rocket, but then I'd only have you and Gyarados." <It would be too much of a risk trying to use any of Kirsty's other Pokemon, as they'd see right through you.> Charizard didn't see Night Shade as Kirsty, rather, his senses registered her as a Haunter. Kirsty's other Pokemon, due to having been with her for so long a period of time, would notice the change in an instant. <Gyarados is too enraged to notice, so he shouldn't give you any trouble. Still though, it would be worth testing out your Hypnosis on it just to be sure. You do know Hypnosis, right?> "I think so. I know I can use Night Shade, Psywave and Teleport. Is it true that Pokemon can only hold four special attacks in their memory at any given time?" <Yes. Sliph tried out a few other TMs on me before you came to my rescue.> Night Shade stopped walking, and held Gyarados' Pokeball in front of her face. "I'll give it a shot." Normally, Hypnosis could only be used to make a Pokemon fall asleep. Due to the close proximity of their trainers, it would be too hard to hypnotically suggest anything more complex as the Pokemon would shake it off through its loyalty to its master. However, in this instance Gyarados already thought Night Shade was its trainer, and thus she might have a chance of implanting false memories into its head. Kirsty's hair began to lift, as if she were immersed in water. Tendrils of dark purple energy stretched out from her mouth, and wrapped themselves around the Pokeball. Slowly, the smooth red and white sphere was completely obscured behind a miasma of dark, swirling energy. <I've seen this done before,> said Charizard. <Reach into its mind, and think about whatever you want it to think. The new memories should replace the old.> ------ "Fish head, fish head Roly-poly fish head." The children surrounded Magikarp as it flailed helplessly around on the sand, drowning in the hot summer air. They were all singing to each other. One held a stick, and was attempting to jab it into the Magikarp's eye. "Fish head, fish head, Eat them up, yum!" It couldn't see clearly, things were beginning to turn black. It gulped for water, but all around it was sand, hot, white sand. Only a few metres away lay the blue waters of the ocean, but each time it struggled forwards the children goaded it back to shore. The chorus continued. "Fish head, fish head Laughing happy fish head." As it turned back towards the sea the menacing heads of Gyarados surfaced on the shore, waiting for it to return to the water. This time, the children made no attempt to stop Magikarp's escape, but as it neared the ocean it was picked up by a powerful fanged mouth and hurled back to shore. Blood ran down Magikarp's scales from the bite marks and onto the sand. "Fish head, fish head, Floating in your soup." The children gathered around Magikarp once again, singing all the while. All it could feel was pain. Its entire body was racked with agony as sticks were plunged into its body and sandalled feet trod on its head. The childrens eyes were narrow and bestial, their mouths lined with razor-sharp fangs, their hands spiked with red-stained claws. Horns began to rise up from their heads as Magikarp felt hands grasp its head and body, and slowly began to pull... A high-pitched whine filled the air. Shockwaves buffeted the ground. Magikarp was lifted up by a divine hand and released into the water, all of its pain and hurt fading away in an instant of relief. Looking up from the water, its freedom of motion restored, an angel-winged girl and a Charizard surrounded by a glowing white aura attacked the now-demonic host. Gouts of flame seared the foul creations, while powerful blasts of mental energy vapourised the Gyarados threatening to come ashore. The girl drew two pistols from her waist and flew up into the air, releasing a fusillade of shots into the seething massses below. Charizard hovered above Magikarp, and attacked the foe with powerful swipes of its claws. In a last brief fury of blood and fire, the beach lay silent, save for the flap of two pairs of wings. Magikarp had been saved from a foul evil by a divine prescence, and it stared up adoringly into the faces of its saviours. It began to feel the ground falling down below it as it grew into a new form, its body stretching out into the powerful shape of a Gyarados. Now able to leave the water, it joined its two companions in the air, and flew off into the wide, open skies. ------ "I think that did the trick. Now it thinks we're its saviours." Night Shade holstered the Pokeball. She could feel the love and gratitude of Gyarados from inside the device, its eager want to protect its mistress from harm. "Its memory span as a Magikarp shouldn't be long enough to remember anything of Kirsty. I definately didn't pick up anything." Charizard had felt Gyarados' feelings during the process as well, and nodded in agreement. Maybe the process would work on Night Shade herself, thought Charizard. She told him that she was unable to recall any of her past, save for the odd flashback here and there. The moments leading up to her death were comparayively clear, save for the very end. On the other hand, maybe it had already happened to her. TBC...