Subject: [PW!] Are Three Heads Better Than Two? Date: Mon, 24 Dec 2001 20:43:54 GMT From: Rob <robfrompw@yahoo.com> Organization: AT&T Worldnet Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon "So, you waltz up here, onto the roof of my Gym, without so much as an 'I'm sorry for completely ignoring you and not calling for the past few weeks' and challenge me to a Gym Battle as if you're just some stranger here to earn a Zephyr Badge?" Sarah looks down timidly, trying to come up with a polite response. She starts, "I-I'm sorry, I..." Falkner interrupts her, "We're having a one-on-one match, and I'm NOT going easy on you this time like I did the last two times you were here, you tease!" As Falkner races over to his side of the Arena on the roof of the Violet City Gym, the Hoothoot on his shoulder rolls his eyes, aware that Sarah did no teasing whatsoever and that his Trainer just imagined it. Falkner produces a Pokeball and shouts out, "I choose you, Dodrio!" When Falkner's Pokeball hits the roof, a large, brown, three-headed bird Pokemon appears and each of his heads squawks out a slightly different battle cry, "Do!" "Dri!" "Ooooo!" "Oh dear..." Sarah looks down into her satchel, wondering which of her Pokemon might have the strength to defeat such an intimidating foe, "Cyndaquil's a fighter, but he's too small. Luthor's... well, Luthor. Sunkern - that's just rid-" Barbie, the Mareep standing at Sarah's side, nudges one of her Trainer's legs and declares, "Ree." Sarah's gaze moves over from her satchel to her Mareep, "You're not afraid?" "Maaa..." Barbie steps into the Arena and looks up at the three-headed fowl standing before her, "Reep ma reep." Sarah's mouth falls open, thinking, "Barbie sure has toughened up in the past few days we've been alone in the woods." She's so surprised, that when Falkner commands, "Dodrio, Fly!", it takes her a moment to counter by saying, "Barbie, uh... Growl!" The Dodrio runs a short distance then hops into the air. While he's gliding above Sarah's Mareep, the presently courageous sheep Pokemon glares up at the center head of Falkner's Dodrio and lets out a very angry Growl, "Rrrrrrrree!" Despite the shock that Barbie's staring at her attacker instead of fleeing, Sarah recalls that Flying Pokemon are weak against Electric attacks and shouts, "Now use Thundershock!" "Rrr." Barbie keeps growling at the Pokemon hovering above her. On his way down, two of the Dodrio's three heads are figuring that the Mareep's going to attempt to dodge his Fly attack, so the Dodrio veers slightly, predicting that Barbie's going to hop back. Unfortunately for the Dodrio, Barbie doesn't budge and the Fly tactic misses completely - the Dodrio's three beaks crash onto the Gym's roof. As the Dodrio attempts to stand up, he gets hit from behind by a very powerful Thundershock! Falkner is enraged that his Dodrio, famous for stunning foolish Trainers who think Dodrio can't Fly, missed, "WHAT WAS THAT?! Did Dodrio miss on purpose? Newflash, Dodrio: we don't like Sarah any more - in fact, we're all downright pissed at her!" "Don't swear!" Sarah calls out to Falkner, then calls out to her Mareep, "Just keep on usin' Thundershock, Barbie!" Falkner shakes his head, "Oh no you don't - now we end this. Dodrio, Drill Peck." He crosses his arms and watches his Dodrio remain perfectly still in a very awkward position - two of his heads have their beaks stuck on the roof, the other head is halfway raised, and he has one leg in the air. Right after Barbie uses Thundershock on his Dodrio, Falkner repeats, "Dodrio, DRILL PECK!" When his Dodrio doesn't move as he's Thundershocked a third time, Falkner gasps, "He's paralyzed!" The Hoothoot on Falkner's shoulder narrows his huge eyes at the Gym Leader, wondering how it could take him so long to figure that out. Sarah sees that the expression on all three of Dodrio's faces is a sad one, so she figures Barbie's weakened him quite enough and feels it would be excessive for Barbie to Thundershock him a fourth time. She works up the courage to call out to Falkner, "Looks like this time, I'm goin' easy on you. Barbie, Tackle!" As Falkner fumbles to take out a Paralyzecure Berry, Barbie lowers her head and the Mareep, whose fleece is now huge due to the three earlier Thundershocks, Tackles Falkner's Dodrio, knocking him out of his awkward position, onto the roof. Falkner does pull out the Paralyzecure Berry, but when he throws it over to his Dodrio, the Flying Pokemon isn't able to eat it since all three of his heads have fainted. Falkner rummages through his pockets, "I can't believe a mere Mareep beat my Dodrio..." "We finally won, Barbie!" Sarah runs over to her Mareep and when she hugs her puffed-up fleece, it shrinks down. When Falkner pulls out a Zephyr Badge and hands it to Sarah, she smiles at him, "Hey, y'know what they say - third time's a charm!" "Mareep." Barbie the Mareep slumps down, exhausted from having used Thundershock three times, but proud that she finally had the courage to stand up to a large Pokemon in battle. After she beat Bob's Sentret and defeated so many low level Pokemon in the woods, her self-confidence has been really high. Right now, she feels that she's a powerful Pokemon able to fight back against all of her foes, both the real ones and paranoia-induced fake ones who she believes are real. But then, she feels a strange tingling sensation. Fright returns into her eyes when she senses something strange is happening to her body... Barbie glows white and grows slightly larger, then once she stops glowing, her blue skin slowly turns pink. Her lower legs have developed, but her front legs haven't - they have become her arms. Little claws pop out of her feet. Her yellowish fleece turns white as snow and much of it falls off, leaving only the patch on her head and a ring around her neck. Finally, the yellow bulb at the end of her tail blinks for a moment and turns blue. Barbie looks down at her brand new Flaaffy form, and her eyes go wide when she sees that so much of her fleece is missing. She feels naked, so she shrieks, "Aaaaaaaaaa!!!" "That's such a cute new look for you, Barbie!" Sarah hugs Barbie the Flaaffy and nuzzles her cheeks up against the Pokemon's rubbery skin as Barbie's eyes dart around, examining every part of her brand new form, "I can't wait 'til I show mom and Teddy how much we've both grown and the two official Badges I've earned." She pins her newly acquired Zephyr Badge onto her satchel's strap, pulls out her wooden crook, and heads towards the stairs. She's hoping Barbie will follow, but when she turns around to check, she sees that the one who followed her is Falkner - Barbie's still examining her new body. Falkner falls to his knees, "Pleeeeeeease go out with me! I'm really sorry for all I said earlier! I mean, sure, I was pretty angry that you were ignoring me and all that, but I shouldn't have acted like that. Seeing you beat me up and make sarcastic remarks at my expense really turned me on. C'mon, give me a break, sweetie! Stay with me for the holidays! I want you to meet my parents. We can eat dinner at my family reunion. Why, even my cousin Flakner the Wing Master's gonna be there!" Once again, Sarah's seriously creeped out by Falkner's advances, so she's relieved when the Hoothoot on his shoulder Pecks his head, knocking him out. The Hoothoot winks one large eye at Sarah, and while Sarah would normally try to help someone who's been hurt, she knows that Falkner's trusted Pokemon would never seriously hurt him and fears that if she took Falkner to the hospital, he'd be so grateful that he'd propose to her. When Sarah sees Barbie uncoordinatedly walking after her on her hind legs, she and Barbie head down the stairs and race out of the Violet City Gym before Falkner regains consciousness. A few hours later, the ears of a Jolteon resting on a grassy hill perk up. He hears someone approaching his master's farm, so he hops up and bolts over to where his master's nephew, a tan blond boy, is tending to his flock of Mareep and Flaaffy with a crook, "Jolt, jolt!" Curious, the boy tells his flock not to wander and follows the Jolteon - down the old dirt path, past the wooden mailbox, and up a hill. When he reaches the top of the hill, he drops his crook. He shouts, "Sarah, you're back!" "Teddy, I've missed you so much! You can't imagine!" Sarah drops her crook too, runs up to her little brother, and gives him a huge bear hug, "Did you get my letter?" The Jolteon that led Teddy to Sarah nuzzles up against her legs. Teddy nods, then grins widely, "So, d'ya bring me anythin'?!" He digs his small fingers into Sarah's satchel and immediately feels a warm, fuzzy Pokemon. He pulls out Sarah's hibernating baby Teddiursa and exclaims, "What an awesome little Pokemon!" Sarah smiles when Teddy coddles the Teddiursa in his arms, "A good friend I made on my Journey gave me an Egg a while back and this Teddiursa hatched before my eyes. He sleeps almost all day and all night! Uh, the Teddiursa, not my friend. If you think my Teddiursa's cool, check this out. Barbie, c'mere!" When Sarah calls for her Pokemon, the shy pink Flaaffy climbs up the hill into Teddy's line of sight. Sarah gestures towards her, "Just a few hours ago, Barbie evolved into a Flaaffy!" "I can't believe it! Barbie? BARBIE?!" Teddy asks incredulously. He runs over to get a better look at Sarah's Flaaffy, who drops onto all fours and runs away from him - she's always been scared of Sarah's family members. Teddy chuckles, "Yeah, that's Barbie all right. Heh, how many Rare Candies didya feed 'er to get 'er to evolve? Like fifteen or somethin'?" Sarah laughs and shakes her head, "Barbie's just been pretty brave in the past few days - she evolved right after beatin' a Dodrio - and not just any Dodrio, but the Dodrio belongin' to Violet City's Gym Leader!" She puts her hand on Teddy's shoulder, "Both of us have grown up since we left, like I imagine you have too, takin' care of all your jobs and mine too." Teddy nods, "Yep, I didn't realize how tough cleanin' the house was. Speakin' of which, are ya stayin' here for good now?" "I'm here for Christmas and New Year." Sarah explains, "I've only got two Badges - there's a bunch I still gotta get, so I'm gonna leave again, but that doesn't mean we can't enjoy these next few weeks!" She glances at the sun, "...I am on time for Christmas, right? I haven't seen a calendar in a while - I was lost in the woods for days 'til I found Violet City today." Teddy replies, "Yeah, tonight's Christmas Eve, so you're right on time." He looks up at his older sister in silence and gets teary eyed before blurting out, "Oh Sarah, ya gotta stay with us as long as ya can! We've all missed ya here so much!" Sarah smiles and gets a little teary-eyed herself, "Then I won't keep ma and the others waitin' any longer. Let's go home." -Sarah