Subject: [PW!] Burned in the Burned Tower Date: Tue, 20 Nov 2001 06:24:55 GMT From: Rob <robfrompw@yahoo.com> Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Sarah's sitting in the darkness within the Burned Tower of Ecuteak City. She's panting from having run so very quickly mere moments ago and she's trembling, much like the Mareep sitting next to her is, since she's hiding from two homicidal maniacs. In her arms, she's cradling a small Teddiursa, who was awakened from his slumber by the loud screams Sarah released upon realizing that she was standing within less than a meter of Mimic's brother, Doppler, the main reason why she sprinted all the way here from Route 36. The newborn Teddiursa in Sarah's arms is biting down with his small baby teeth on one of his paws, his cute eyes wide open and the small crescent moon on his forehead shining, creating a night-light effect for Sarah and Barbie the Mareep in the otherwise dark Tower. "Eeep..." Barbie bleats softly, then rubs up against Sarah's side and crouches down. She feels that they're not alone in the Burned Tower, and it's scaring her. Sarah rests her Teddiursa on her lap and uses her now free arms to reach over and hug her beloved Mareep, who's been by her side since she began her Journey, "I know, Barbie - I'm scared too, but we're safer here hidin' in this Tower than in the Pokemon Center or tourist attractions, where the bad guys'll look for us." "What, no provisions for bad girls? How sexist." A sarcastic female voice comes from the darkness, startling Sarah into embracing her Mareep tighter. Before Barbie's mind can run wild and imagine that the voice belongs to one of various paranoid delusions of hers, both Barbie and Sarah find out where the voice originated when a green-haired girl wearing a black leather outfit steps out of the shadows with an angry Mankey on her shoulder and a grinning Wooper at her side. "R-R-Roxie..." Sarah's slowly moves her arms away from Barbie, looks up at the punk girl standing before her, and asks, "...wh-what're you... d-doin' here?" Roxie grabs one of the Fast Balls she stole from Kurt, enlarges it, and spins it on one of her fingers, "I've been in Ecruteak for a while now. I came to Burned Tower after I got my Fog Badge to search for Pokemon. I caught a Koffing about a week ago, but she's really weird - it turns out she hates my Totodile, so I came back to see if I could find a better Koffing since members in a Pokemon gang shouldn't fight with each other. I'd think teamwork's what's most important for any Pokemon team, be it a gang, a duo, or a lame goody-goody loser brigade, as I'm sure your Pokemon Team is." Roxie stops spinning her Koffing's Fast Ball, looks down at Sarah's lap, and shakes her head, "A baby Teddiursa? What are you, five?" She sniffs laughter and the small Mankey on her shoulder snorts a similar chuckle. Sarah sits in silence, watching Roxie and her Mankey laugh, until she musters up the courage to point out, "...b-but you... you've gotta b-baby Pokemon t-too!" "Don't let my Mankey's small size fool you." Roxie uses her free hand to pat her baby Mankey on the head, "He may have been born yesterday, but he's no chump. It turns out that those old folks who's Breeding Center I stole his egg from bred his parents pretty well - he was born knowing the rare Beat Up attack! He's been kickin' Rattata tail all day, isn't that right, Mankey?" The Mankey on Roxie's shoulder grins and hops back and forth, anxious to Beat Up some more Pokemon. Roxie grins, "Plus, he's an excellent mascot for me. A Pig Monkey Pokemon goes well with my motorcycle, or as some would call it, my Piloswine." "You stole... an egg... too?! Stealin's wrong!" Sarah hefts her tiny Teddiursa onto her shoulder, climbs up onto her feet, and angrily tells Roxie, "Stop doin' it!" Roxie rolls her eyes, "Ugh, not this morality lesson crap again..." "Stop swearin' too!" Sarah blurts out. When Barbie notices that Sarah's on an adrenaline rush, she backs away slowly, not wanting Sarah to make her fight Roxie's Wooper, who beat her up last time they fought. Seeing that Roxie, her Mankey, and her Wooper are just chuckling at Sarah's demands, Sarah says, "No wonder your Pokemon fight with each other - you're settin' a bad example for 'em. My Pokemon can prob'ly work as a Team better than your Pokemon can, 'cuz I treat 'em with respect!" Upon hearing Sarah make this challenge, Barbie crouches down onto the Burned Tower's floor and covers her eyes with her front legs. "Oh? Heh." Roxie smirks, finding it amusing that it was so easy to anger Sarah, "Is that so? Heh..." The green-haired biker raises her Koffing's Fast Ball, "In that case, let's have a three on three team match - three of my Pokemon against three of yours. In fact, I'll send out Aquarius to give you an edge. If you..." "Who's Aquarius?" Sarah asks, wondering if Roxie renamed her Wooper. Roxie pokes Sarah on the forehead with her free hand, "That's my Totodile. Geeze, you country folk are even slower than I thought you were. I named my Totodile Aquarius when I found some Mystic Water near a pond in the Ilex Forest. I thought it was a great name for him since he's a water carrier now. Anyway, if you win, I'll stop 'swearin' and 'stealin'. If I win, then you have to buff my boots with your Mareep's fleece, say any swear word I choose, and... to make it interesting, give me one of your Badges." Sarah's about to agree to the challenge, but that last demand seems a bit much. She points to the Hive Badge pinned on the leather strap going across her chest and says, "...but I've only got this one Badge." "Geeze, I was right about your Team being a loser brigade." Roxie opens up her leather jacket to reveal a Zephyr Badge, a Hive Badge, a Plain Badge, and a Fog Badge. She stares at Sarah in disbelief and asks, "What're you even DOING in Ecruteak? If you're so sure your Pokemon Team's gonna lose that you're not willing to put your Badge on the line, then I'll just go on my merry way, swearing all the way to the Ecruteak Pokemart, where I plan to steal some Super Potions." She waves at Sarah and starts to skip towards the exit, singing, "Weeeeeell, Sarah's mom is a big fat bit-" "STOP!" Sarah interrupts Roxie's song before it gets very far. She chases after the delinquent and says, "I'll do it... if you'll really stop swearin' and stealin'." She calls out Barbie's name, and the Mareep, who was crouching ten feet away, reluctantly gets up and sulks over to Sarah with a pout on her face. Sarah looks down into her Pokemon's eyes and pleads, "C'mon, Barbie, you've gotta do this for me - Teddiursa's too little to be battlin' and Luthor's tired from havin' fought that Tentacool earlier." Barbie the Mareep bleats, "...ma-reep," then walks in-between where Sarah's standing and where Roxie's standing. Sarah then grabs her Fast Ball and her Love Ball from within her satchel and throws them. In two flashes of red light, a Cyndaquil wearing a Charcoal jacket and a happy Sunkern appear next to Barbie. Roxie punches the air above her in one swift motion, "Woohoo! This'll be an easy battle." She calls out Shaft's name, and the Wooper, who is still grinning and eager for battle hops in front of Barbie. "All right, Shaft, you know what to do." Shaft the Wooper squeals, "Woop-er!" Roxie then grabs her two Fast Balls from within her jacket's pockets and throws them. In two flashes of red light, a Totodile holding a bottle of glowing Mystic Water and an angry Koffing appear next to Shaft. Immediately, Sarah's female Sunkern leaps onto Blazer the Cyndaquil and starts to kiss him all over his face at about the same exact time that Roxie's female Koffing leaps onto Aquarius the Totodile and starts to spit fumes all over his face. Barbie and Shaft both look bothered by their teammates' behavior. "Barbie, Roxie sent out two Water Pokemon - Thundershock 'em both!" Sarah exclaims pointing with one hand at Shaft and with the other at Aquarius. Roxie commands, in a relaxed voice with one hand on her hips, "Shaft, Earthquake attack." "Reeee!" Barbie's fleece fluffs up considerably before two bolts of Thundershock escape from it, hurting Aquarius, but leaving Shaft unharmed. Roxie's Wooper's grin becomes even wider when he hops up, "Woooop!" When Shaft's feet hit the ground, a small Earthquake knocks Barbie and Blazer off balance, but misses Sarah's floating Sunkern completely. Upon noticing that Barbie attacked Aquarius, her worst enemy, Roxie's Koffing happily nods her spherical body at Sarah's Mareep, approving Barbie's attack. Upon noticing that Shaft attacked Blazer, her desired lover, Sarah's Sunkern angrily shakes her spherical body at Roxie's Wooper, disapproving Shaft's attack. Sarah notices her Sunkern's anger and decides to use it to her advantage, "Sunkern, use your most powerful attack!" Roxie frowns and orders, "Koffing, Smog." "Kern!" As Sarah's Sunkern prepares to use her Mega Drain attack on Shaft for having hurt Blazer, Koffing winks at Barbie and spews out Smog at the Pokemon next to her, not wanting to hurt the Mareep, "Koff! Koffing!" The Pokemon next to Barbie just happens to be Sarah's Sunkern, who falls down onto the ground, poisoned. Sarah's Sunkern pushes herself up into a standing position using the leaves protruding from her head, then uses Mega Drain to considerably weaken Shaft the Wooper, healing herself enough to float back up a few inches from the ground in the process, "Sun!" "Oh, no you don't. Koffing, Tackle that Sunkern. Shaft, Slam that Mareep. Aquarius, use Water Gun on that Cyndaquil." Roxie crosses her arms. Sarah gulps and nervously shouts out some commands, "Sunkern, attack that Wooper again! Blazer, use Ember on that Koffing! Barbie, another Thundershock on that Totodile!" Barbie's urge to protect herself as well as her Electric nature, allows her to attack first - she Thundershocks Aquarius a second time, an action that doesn't cause the Totodile to faint but leads Roxie's Koffing to grin even wider than usual in her direction. Shaft, being quite a high level Wooper, is the second to attack, Slaming Barbie with his large, throbbing tail. Barbie the Mareep slumps down onto the floor, fainted. This leads Koffing to frown and divert her Tackle - instead of hitting Sunkern, she Tackles Shaft's head. This attack hurts the Drained Wooper so much that he faints. Koffing spits Sludge onto Shaft's body, "Koff off." "KOFFING!" Roxie shouts, but then realizes, "...wait, my Koffing just beat up my strongest Pokemon using Tackle? Maybe this Koffing's a keeper, after all." "Cynda...quil?" Blazer the Cyndaquil isn't sure if he should use Ember on Roxie's Koffing, since the Poison Pokemon seems to be on their side, but since Professor Elm taught him to obey his Trainer's orders no matter what, even if the Trainer doesn't let him out of his Pokeball as often as he'd wish, Blazer turns around, points his back towards Roxie's Koffing, and shoots flames out of his back! The Ember attack is intensified by the Charcoal jacket the Cyndaquil's wearing before it hits the Koffing. The Koffing floats down a little, and has scorch marks all over her body, but she doesn't faint, "Koff... ing... koff..." Roxie nods, "Definitely a keeper." "Toto...dile?" Aquarius the Totodile isn't sure if he should use Water Gun on Sarah's Cyndaquil, since the Fire Pokemon just attacked the annoying Koffing who has been annoying him recently, but since Professor Elm also taught him to obey his Trainer's orders no matter what, even if the Trainer is a punk teen, Aquarius takes a swig from his bottle of Mystic Water, inhales some air, then spews a Water Gun attack at the Cyndaquil! The Cyndaquil falls onto the floor - the Earthquake attack had weakened him considerably, so Aquarius' strong Water Gun attack faints him. "SUNKERN!" Sarah's Sunkern notices that she's the only one of Sarah's Pokemon who hasn't fainted, so she puts all of her energy into her next Mega Drain attack, diverting it from the now-fainted Wooper towards the Totodile who just attacked her team-mate. The Sunkern floats over to Aquarius, puts her leaves on the Totodile's head, and uses Mega Drain on the Water Pokemon! The twice Thundershocked Totodile finally faints, just as the Sunkern floats up, healed a little but still poisoned from Roxie's Koffing's earlier Smog attack. Sunkern then turns to face her last opponent - the Koffing who poisoned her. Sarah wipes a sweatdrop off her forehead and says, "Whew... I thought I was losing for a moment there, but now we're tied. Sunkern, use that attack again!" "Do you even know the attack's called Mega Drain?" Roxie raises an eyebrow at Sarah, "It seems that dumb country blondes like you don't know a whole lot about Pokemon training. We're not tied. Your poisoned Sunkern's a Grass Type. My surprisingly strong Koffing's a Poison Type. I've already won. Koffing - Sludge." Sarah shakes her head, "Pokemon battles aren't all about Type..." Since Roxie's Koffing's faster than Sarah's Sunkern, the spherical Poison Pokemon spews a blob of Sludge onto the spherical Grass Pokemon. Sarah raises one of her index fingers and continues, "Now my Sunkern's going to use her Mega Drain and..." She stops talking when she sees her Sunkern fall limp onto the Burned Tower's floor like a seed onto the soil. Sarah's index finger goes limp, "...I... I... l-ost? H-how?" "Because my Koffing kicks ass! SAY IT!" Roxie pats her Koffing on the back then recalls her into her Fast Ball with a smirk on her face, "I said SAY IT." Sarah's face returns to its usual position of looking downwards, "Y... your... y-your... Koff-Koffing... kic-kick.... kicks..." Sarah gulps and closes her eyes, "...ass." "Hahahaha!" Roxie laughs and raises her arms high, then her Mankey mimics these actions. Sarah's arms go limp at the same time and the Teddiursa on her shoulder removes his paw from his open mouth. Roxie walks over and pats Sarah on the back, "That was great." She then kicks Barbie's limp body, "Now, get to buffing." Sarah falls to her knees with tears welling up in her eyes, then rubs Barbie's still-enlarged fleece against Roxie's black leather boots until the biker's boots shine, as Roxie recalls her fainted Pokemon into their respective Pokeballs. When Roxie's satisfied with the way her boots look, she leans forward, grabs onto Sarah's Hive Badge, and yanks it from its place on her leather satchel's strap. She drops the Hive Badge into one of her pockets, says, "It's been nice teaching you a lesson. By the way, your battling technique is horrible. You'll never beat Morty without knowing your Pokemon's attacks, so you might as well go home. I'm sure your mom's desperate to have you back since she probably wants to marry you with your brother. Ah well, it's been fun, but the Olivine City Gym awaits." Roxie turns around and heads out of the Burned Tower. Sarah falls onto her fainted Mareep's now dirty fleece and weeps into it. The Teddiursa on her shoulder frowns and pats her head with the paw he's had in his mouth. -Sarah