From: Andrusi- Apprentice of Kopaka (andyvvv@aol.com.geable) Subject: [PW!][BBB] An Obsession With Spherical Objects Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2001-07-19 13:51:35 PST [NS: Thanks to Rob for the title.] ------ [ring, ring] *yawn* Yeah, this is the Narrator. Can I help you? ... What? When? ... WEEKS AGO? Why didn't you call me earlier? I'll get right on it! ------ Andrew O'Reilly was in trouble. Serious trouble. Spherical trouble. Red and white trouble. Large numbers of trouble. North of Goldenrod trouble. For those of you who are dumb as rocks, he was at the Sudowoodo intersection with a broken ankle with a swarm of angry Electrodes approaching. What he needed was a miracle... or at least plot convenience. That's what he got. Just as the Electrodes were about to get within Exploding distance, a powerful Thunder Wave came out of nowhere and paralyzed the one in the lead. "Trode..." The other bomb-balls turned to stare stupidly at their leader. Any intelligent species would have realized at that point that the remaining Electrodes could still easily overpower whatever was attacking. The Electrodes, however, were too scared to move on with the loss of their leader, and immediately turned tail and headed back to the city. Andrew sighed in relief, then glanced over in the direction of the Thunder Wave's origin. A boy about Andrew's age bent down and held out a hand to help him up. "Are you all right, citizen?" the newcomer asked in a superheroish-sounding voice. "Andy!" another voice shouted from nearby. Andrew looked, and a girl and another boy walked into view, both looking annoyed. "You're doing it again," the second newcomer said. "It's bad enough when you use your superhero voice on us, but when you use it against other people..." "Sorry," 'Andy' replied in a much more normal-sounding voice. He turned back to Andrew. "So anyway, are you all right?" Andrew tested his ankle. Sure enough, it had suddenly healed now that the injury was no longer needed as a plot device. "Yeah, I'm fine. Was that Thunder Wave your work?" "Yeah," Andy said. A pause. "Well, not exactly. It was my Magnemite, Electron." For the first time, Andrew noticed two Magnemites hovering among the trio. "Thanks," Andrew said. "Lucky thing you were nearby." "No problem. Dealing with Electrodes is our job as Bomb Ba--" at which point Andy howled in pain because the other boy had just stomped hard on Andy's foot. "How many times do I have to tell you?" he said. "You can't go around telling everyone everything! That's how we ended up with her!" He gestured towards the girl, who waved as if on camera. Something Andy had said seemed familiar... "Excuse me," Andrew said. "Are you the Bomb Ball Bashers?" The unidentified (who you undoubtably by now realize was Enimuram) threw up his hands in frustration, the girl (who, of course, was Nori) stared at Andrew, and Andy answered with a polite "Yes". "Good. I'm Andrew O'Reilly and I've been trying to find you." He remembered what had been on the note. "And I'm not with Team Rocket." "So that means you want to join us?" Andy asked. "Well--" "I think we can do that." Andy turned to Enimuram. "Can we do that?" "Well, it's not like we have many other options," Enimuram responed, exasparated. "He does, after all, know about us. If he's not one of us, who's to say he won't go join Team Rocket and try to get ahead by beating Brotlov to the punch and turn us in?" Nori chuckled nervously. "Wait a second." Things were happening a bit fast for Andrew, who still hadn't quite recovered from the attack. "I'm not sure I want to join. Why would I want to fight some sort of crusade against Electrodes?" "Because Electrodes are evil." "They are?" "Think about it," Enimuram said. "Haven't you ever seen something good go completely insane because of Electrodes? Think carefully now." Andrew was about to answer "no", when the "think carefully" part kicked in. He remembered a the Trisan-Tifer wedding, which had almost been ruined by an attack involving Electrodes. "Yes, I have." "And obviously there's what happened today." "Oh yeah." "Plus strength in numbers, and we're against Team Rocket, and you DID come all the way out here just to see us, and--" "Okay, okay, I get the picture. I'm in." "Good." Enimuram shook Andrew's hand. "Welcome to the Bomb Ball Bashers. I'm Enimuram, this is my partner Andy. That's Nori over there." Disapproval was evident in Enimuram's tone. "She's not really a Basher, but we're traveling with her so we'll know where we're going." "...Okay," Andrew said, not having understood a single word of that. At that point, a freakishly normal Rocket, an Electabuzz, and an Electrode made their presence known... by falling out of a tree and landing on top of Nori. "GET OFF ME, YOU MORONS!" she shouted with a female fury level that would've made Gregory M. "Em" Shrub stop using malapropisms. Naturally, the two TR-associated individuals removed themselves. "Well, um, anyway..." Ted was at a loss for words. He obviously hadn't expected to end up confronting the Bashers, especially with Nori mad at them. "Surrender," Cyclonus demanded. "You have no chance to survive make y--" "TRODE!" Scourge shouted. "Sorry. Anyway, we are Team Rocket blah blah blah surrender or be terminated." "You guys need a motto," Enimuram stated bluntly. "You sound like a couple of morons." "They are a couple of morons," Andy pointed out. "Nori just said so." "And you're taking her word for it?" "Yeah. So?" "Excuse me," Andrew broke in. "If you guys aren't going to fight these Rocket dunces, can I?" "Sure, go ahead," Enimuram answered. "Show us what you've got." Andrew tossed a Pokéball. "David, Teleport and then Mega Punch!" "Kadabra," David said as he appeared in front of Cyclonus and socked him. Cyclonus, caught off-guard, fell over. He took a quick look at the Kadabra and immediately ran. Ted stared for a few seconds, blinking, then ran off after him. Scourge rolled away, too--in precisely the wrong direction. Suddenly, the reality of the current situation occurred to Enimuram. "Wait... you named your Kadabra David?" "Yeah," Andrew said. "Actually I caught him as an Abra." "How old are you?" "17." Enimuram blinked. "So... you're a seventeen-year-old Bomb Ball Basher with the first name Andrew with glasses and dark brown hair with an Abra-line Pokémon named David who knows Teleport and Mega Punch?" "...Yeah, that's about right." No one was sure what happened in the next second, but at the end of the second in question Enimuram was on his knees in front of Nori. "PLEASE, if there is any mercy in your heart, kill me! Preferably now! One of them is bad enough--I can't live with two!" Nori would have been happy to do so, except that she was fairly sure the Bashers would be worth more to her superiors if delivered as a complete set. Andy and Andrew, for their part, simultaneously shrugged and began swapping gameplay tips for the newly released Sandslash Adventure 2. TBC