From: BBD127 (bbd127@aol.com) Subject: [PW!] What the heck is a Pro-dex? Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2000/04/08 After fighting his way through the hoardes of tourists, six year olds, and travel groups crowding the main entrance to the Safari Zone, Procyon managed at last to reach a section of the park not flooded with people. He breathed a sigh of relief and sat down on a rock for a moment, to rest and observe his surroundings. He looked around with awe. At first glance, the forest seemed empty and devoid of life; and no wonder, he thought, with all the noise those tour groups make. But for those with a little patience, the Safari Zone held many wonders. Procyon could see Exeggcute shuffling through the shrubbery, Nidoran skampering around trees, Venonat hiding behind rocks, and herds of Rhyhorn off in the distance. The cool air brought by the breeze was welcomed by his senses, and he sighed contentedly. This was where he wanted to be, he thought. Not gawking at some Scyther locked up in a zoo somewhere, but alone and free in the wild, watching these creatures in their natural habitats. Procyon looked at the bag of Safari Balls the man had given him. After a moment's thought, he stowed them safely in his backpack. He was here to observe and record, not to capture. He then brought out a blue pocket-sized computer that looked similar to a Pokedex, but with his name inscribed on it. This he opened up and held in his hand, ready to record any new bits of data he could find. Deeming himself ready at last, he stood up and began walking toward a bush where he thought he'd seen a Pinsir a moment ago. "Hey!" He turned around to find a black-haired boy, probably a year younger than he, running in his direction and smiling. He, too, was wearing a backpack, and he had six Safari Balls at his belt. Procyon also didn't fail to notice the presence of a red Pokedex in his hand. Procyon smiled. "Hi! Who're you?" The boy smiled back, and shook his hand. "My name's David." (Note: if anyone else has a character named David, I'm sorry, this is just a coincidence. I don't think it's much of a stretch to imagine there being more than one person named David on a planet. ^_^) "Nice to meet you. I'm Procyon." He gestured to the Safari Balls at his waist. "I take it you're a trainer?" "Yep, sure am! I'm gonna give the Elite Four a run for their money." Procyon groaned inwardly, but to David only smiled. "Oh? What Pokemon do you have?" It had been exactly the right thing to ask. David proudly named all three of his current Pokemon. "I have a male Nidoran, a Nidorina, and an Ekans!" Procyon had to bite his tongue to keep from saying anything, and only barely succeeded. All he managed was, "Oh really? Sounds pretty cool." He paused, then added only half jokingly, "I guess you're not too concerned about ground types?" David blinked, as if the idea had never occured to him. "Oh yeah... I guess that's true... well, it won't matter though. All my Pokemon are at really high levels! You wouldn't believe how cheap they were selling Rare Candies at the Pokemart back there..." He paused, then grinned at Procyon. "Heh.. Too bad you missed out on it! The sale's over now. You'll have to raise them the hard way!" Procyon gulped down the dozen or so responses that sprang instantly to mind, and forced himself to say only, "Yeah, too bad..." The other boy grinned. "So, catch any Pokemon yet?" "No. Actually, I'm not here to catch Pokemon." "Huh? Then why did you come?" Procyon smiled widely. He'd been waiting for that. "I'm going to write a new Pokedex." "A whole new Pokedex?" "Yep." David paused, digesting this information. At last he responded, "Why?" This wasn't quite the response he'd been hoping for, but Procyon told him anyway. "Because the one we've got now is practically worthless. I mean, look at it. For each Pokemon, it tells you like one or two things about them and that's it. You get two or three sentences at the most. The thing doesn't tell you anything valuable, just trivia. I plan to change that." He held his blue Pokedex aloft. "This is the one I'm working on now. I call it the Pro-dex. I'm going to write an entry for all 151 Pokemon out there, and my entries are going to be useful!" David looked skeptical. "All 151, huh? Even Mewtwo and Mew?" Procyon sweatdropped. "Um... well we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. For now I'm just going to write about any Pokemon I can find." "I see. Have any entries yet?" "Just one, for my Doduo here." He released Bulletwing from its ball. "This is Bulletwing, my Doduo," he informed David. "And this is the entry I came up with." He pointed the blue computer at Bulletwing and pressed a button. A voice chirped from the speaker, "Doduo. A two-headed bird Pokemon. Normal and Flying type. Evolves into Dodrio. Usually rather fast. Fairly easy to train, and obedient to its trainer. The only difficulty that trainers may have with it is the two heads' tendency to fight with each other. Often found in patches of tall gas." David blinked. "Tall gas?" "Hehe...that would be ?tall grass'. Lemme fix that. There." He smiled nervously at David. "Haven't got all the bugs worked out just yet." He nodded. "Yeah, I can see that. Well, have fun I guess." He thought for a moment. "You a trainer too?" "Yeah, but not so much for that as for the experience it will give me. I think training Pokemon to battle, and going around to find all eight gyms, will give me plenty of insight into writing entries for my Pro-dex. What about you, why are you doing it?" David shrugged. "I dunno, just thought it would be fun I guess." Procyon smiled. "I guess. Well, then..." he paused for a moment, eyes darting to the right. He thought he'd seen a flash of movement. "What?" asked David, but Procyon motioned for him to be quiet. He looked in the direction of the noise. He saw nothing at first, but after a moment noticed something rustling in the bushes. After another long moment, he saw a flash of movement and was greeted with an incredible sight. "Chansey!" He stared. He knew how rare Chansey were. To find one standing right in front of him, smiling happily, was more than enough of a shock. But that was nothing compared to the other surprise.... David voiced his sentiments for him. "It's BLUE?" And indeed it was. Standing before him, grinning joyfully, was a round and completely azure Chansey. And it wasn't moving, but merely sitting there, just waiting to be captured. Smiling widely, Procyon reached for a Safari Ball from his backpack... ~BBD127