From: Rob (robfrompw@yahoo.com) Subject: [PW!] It's Violet City, Not Violent City. Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2001-07-29 21:07:26 PST When Nurse Marcia walks out of the back area of the Pokemon Center, to the Center's lobby, she's surprised to see that the building is currently housing almost all the citizens of Violet City. Nurse Joy is going from person to person, trying to comfort them with false sincerity and Officer Jenny is asking a trembling family about their losses. Marcia runs her hands down her nurse's uniform, wanting to look nice for the many people in the Violet City Pokemon Center, and approaches Nurse Joy, her boss. She taps Joy's shoulder and asks her, "What's going on in here? Why did all these people suddenly flock into the Pokemon Center?" Nurse Joy puts her hands on her hips when she says, "Maybe if you hadn't left your shift early to go tend to that weird blonde guy you would've found out that Violet City has been destroyed and many of its citizens and Pokemon have been brutally murdered by Team Rocket! I already called for backup and-" Marcia snorts a laugh at what Nurse Joy said. Having been a member of Team Rocket herself, she knows that Rockets are mostly cowards and there are very few murderers among them - in fact, she herself had never killed a human being, despite having murdered many Pokemon before she abandoned that lifestyle. "Do you think death and destruction are funny, Marcia?!" Nurse Joy huffs, her eyes going wide. Nurse Marcia shakes her head, "Not anymore." She doesn't offer any more explanation and darts past Nurse Joy, running out through the Pokemon Center's exit. Once outside, she looks around at the city and sees no damage done anywhere. There are no dead bodies anywhere, neither human nor Pokemon. It's a quiet afternoon, and a flock of Butterfree can be seen hovering above the city. Nurse Marcia walks back into the Pokemon Center and approaches Officer Jenny, wanting her to leave the Pokemon Center before she discovers Splash and tries to take him away, "I just went outside and there's no destruction whatsoever." Curious, Officer Jenny follows Marcia outside. The policewoman cringes, "Are you blind or just plain crazy, nurse? Look at all those dead, rotting corpses! I can't stand the sight..." She runs back into the Pokemon Center, coughing as if she's about to vomit. Nurse Marcia scratches her head, wondering if Splash's insanity was contagious. While pondering, she looks back up at the flock of Butterfree fluttering peacefully above - obviously, they must not see the carnage either or else they wouldn't be so calm. While looking up at the Butterfree, Marcia sees something quite curious happen. When one of the Bug Pokemon leaves the flock to flutter down closer towards the city, its eyes widen, showing that it's horrified, and it quickly flies away, only to look back down, confused. Nurse Marcia rubs her chin, "Hmmm..." She decides to take a walk around Violet City's empty sidewalks. "Your neat new trick worked, Hypno!" A man with a raspy voice says this, thinking that no one is nearby. While Marcia isn't exactly nearby the man who said this, because the streets are empty and because she has an excellent sense of hearing, she heard what he said. She quietly releases her Crobat, who comes out stretching his four wings, the two on his arms and the two relatively new ones on his legs. Before he can screech at the carnage he sees, Marcia grabs him and puts her hand over his mouth. She whispers into one of his hypersensitive ears, "Crobat - don't make a noise. Just listen carefully and lead me to the next person you hear speak." She lets Crobat go, and the Bat Pokemon is more than happy to obey his trainer's order. Another voice, this time female, but about the same distance away from the first one, is heard, "Did you remember to bring the nurse costumes?" Marcia's Crobat hears that voice and silently flies towards it, Marcia in hot pursuit. They race past various buildings, then turn when they arrive at a seemingly abandoned warehouse. Marcia pushes the warehouse's old door ajar, but it creaks, letting the two people and one Pokemon within know that they have company. Marcia turns to run, but someone grabs the collar of her nurse's uniform and drags her into the warehouse. When the person who grabbed her turns her to face him, she recognizes his face - he's Butch, one of the higher ranking members of Team Rocket. Not too far away from where he's holding her stands Cassidy, his female partner, and a Hypno whose head is hooked up to a giant machine that seems to waver as it sends out Hypnotic waves. Butch recognizes Marcia, "It's you!" "How are you, gentlemen!!" Marcia blinks twice, wondering if the Hypno's Hypnosis has started to affect her the same way it affected everyone else in Violet City, then says something else, "I've always been one step ahead of you two, haven't I, Butch and Cassidy? Today's no exception. I'm already dressed like a nurse." Cassidy walks up to Marcia, swaying her hips as if to impress her as she does, and says, "Didn't you drop out of Team Rocket, Minax? I could've sworn..." "Hypno's Hypnosis hasn't affected me. You do the math." Annoyed that Butch is still grabbing her, Marcia kicks his shin and he releases her. She walks up to the Hypno and examines the bowl on his head, which has various wires on it connected to the nearby machine, "I suppose this sends out Hypnotic waves to every non-Rocket in Violet City, making them think the city's destroyed? I was already at the Pokemon Center when all the people started pouring in. I guess you were about to go there now, pretending to be the backup that Nurse Joy called for, in order to steal the people's Pokemon, huh? Pretty clever, I must admit." Butch, leaning down to rub his hurt shin, nods, "Yeah, much more clever than killing defenseless Pokemon, that's for sure." When Marcia glares at Butch, drawing out her long skinning knife, Butch says, "Er, not to say that you're not clever! The way you'd scare people like that was part of the inspiration behind this plan! So what we're trying to say is..." Butch gets up, pulling out two nurse's uniforms out of a nearby crate, handing one to Cassidy and keeping one for himself, "We want you to join us on this heist..." "No we don't, Butch!" Cassidy kicks Butch in his other shin, causing him to fall down face-first. The female Rocket faces Marcia, "Minax, I'm a higher ranking Rocket than you. I order you to stay here while Butch and I clean out the Pokemon Center. I'll be sure to snatch something nice for you, though - a Pokemon that fits well with your personality. Perhaps a Smoochum? They're horribly ugly and disliked by pretty much everyone but have the false impression that they're all that and a Lucky Egg!" Cassidy laughs, one hand covering her mouth, then drags Butch into the Ladies' Room to dress him and herself up as nurses. One of Marcia's brown eyes twitches. She faces her Crobat, who is flying nearby, "Crobat - did you know that Bite is now a Dark type attack?" When Crobat shakes his head and says "Cro," she continues, "Well, it is - and did you know that Psychics are weak against Dark type attacks?" Crobat once again shakes his head, "Cro." Marcia points at Butch and Cassidy's Hypno, who is concentrating on using Hypnosis so much that he's oblivious to everything that has been going on around him, "Crobat - Bite this Hypno where his pendulum doesn't swing." Crobat darts forward, but stops short, wondering what Marcia is talking about. Upon realizing that her euphemism doesn't make sense, she figures it's because she hasn't been practicing lately and says, "Just Bite him until he faints." The first time Crobat Bites Hypno, in the arm, the Psychic Pokemon doesn't flinch. The second time, on his leg, Hypno falls over and his hat falls off. Just as he realizes that he's being attacked, Hypno is Bitten one last time, on his head, before he faints. That last Bite drew some blood, and Crobat begins to slurp it up. Marcia, not wanting to put her Crobat in danger, runs up to the giant machine in the room herself and, using her long skinning knife, slices some wires on it. Just as the machine begins to malfunction, she recalls her Crobat into his Pokeball, puts the Pokeball on her belt, and runs outside. She figures that like most machines built by Team Rocket, that machine will explode seconds after the hero, or in this case the heroine, is out of harm's way. Her assumption is proven accurate when the machine in the building explodes, sending shrapnel flying all over the place except onto Marcia's body. She muses, "Wow. Being good has its perks." Nurse Marcia races back to the Pokemon Center where she works, and once again approaches the Officer Jenny within, "Officer, I think you should take another look outside." When Officer Jenny rolls her eyes and says, "Oh, it's you again," Marcia grabs her hand and forcefully drags her out of the Pokemon Center. Officer Jenny rubs her eyes repeatedly, stunned when she sees no carnage, destruction, or dead bodies in Violet City. "You were right about Team Rocket being behind it all, Officer Jenny." Nurse Marcia explains it all, "They used a Hypno to make everyone in the city think that their homes were destroyed and that other citizens were dead. I wasn't affected by the Hypnosis because... well, for some reason. Let's tell everyone the good news." Nurse Marcia and Officer Jenny head back into the Pokemon Center and explain what happened to the confused citizens in the Pokemon Center, then answered questions. Eventually, one by one, people started leaving the center, until there was only one person left - an angry gray-haired old woman dressed in robes. The old lady narrows her eyes at Officer Jenny, "I told you it was just a Psychic illusion, but you didn't believe me!" "I'm SO sorry, Mrs. Psychic!" Officer Jenny salutes to the woman, then leaves the Pokemon Center, ashamed. Nurse Marcia taps the old woman on the shoulder, "Mrs. Psychic?" When the lady nods, Marcia says, "There's an insane young man, a friend of mine, in the back room. I tried to cure him of his mental problem but was unable to make any progress. Perhaps there's something you can do. Can you please help him?" Omelette, who had been attending to the needs of the people crammed in the Pokemon Center until now, stands at Marcia's side and pleads with her arms together, "Blisssss?" Mrs. Psychic thinks for a moment, then shrugs, "I can try. Let me see him." Nurse Marcia smiles, thanks the ex-wife of the more famous Mr. Psychic, and leads her and Omelette the Blissey into the Violet City Pokemon Center's back room. -Marcia