From: RobfromVoid (RobfromVoid@prodigy.net) Subject: [PW!] Morning Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2001-03-23 11:58:07 PST "Sarah! Wake up!" The annoying voice of a young boy shatters whatever dream Sarah was having, which she suddenly forgot completely, except for the fact that it was a very happy one. She pulls the sheets on her bed up, hugs her pillow and shifts position, hoping to fall back into a subconscious state. That's when the shaking begins. The young boy who spoke just moments ago now has his hands on one of Sarah's shoulders and he's jostling her, saying, "Waaake uuuuup, Saaaaaaraaah!" Sarah rolls around in her bed to face her little brother and opens up her hazel eyes. Her eyes squint due to the morning sunlight pouring in through the window in her room, whose blinds were pulled open by her brother just before he demanded that his sister wake up. She asks with a raspy voice, "What do you want, Teddy?" Teddy points out the window, "Look at the sun, Sarah! It's already eight o'clock! Ya just have to stop sleeping in like this. All the Pokemon in this farm wake up when the sun comes up, which means all the people on this farm have to too. I did, ma did, uncle Bob did, and grandma and grandpa ALWAYS do!" Sarah isn't in the mood for arguing right now. She closes her eyes to drift back into the land of dreams and comments, "Sounds like enough people to me..." There is silence after that, as Sarah starts counting Mareep in order to go back to sleep. Around the ninth Mareep, when Sarah is about to lose consciousness again, Teddy jerks her bedsheets away from her, shouting, "WAKE UP!" Sarah darts up in her bed, rubs her eyes while yawning, then slides her legs over the side of the bed. Only, she doesn't get much farther than that. Her head nods downward and stays down as her eyes begin to slide shut. Sarah's promptly pulled to her feet, when her blond little brother grabs her arm and pulls her up. Her eyes remain closed as he leads her around the house by one of her hands. Teddy tugs Sarah all the way from her room to the kitchen, where he sits her down, looks over to his mom who is also in the room and says, "Here she is, ma." "Sarah, dear, you're already out of bed. Wake up, already!" Sarah's mom waves a plate of waffles with syrup under Sarah's nose the places it on the table. As Sarah opens her eyes and starts to automatically eat the now cold breakfast meal with a fork, her mom starts to lecture her, "This is the third time this week you haven't woken up when the Dodrio crows, Sarah. It's not healthy for a young shepherdess to be sleepin' in all the time like that. It makes for bad habits... Some day you're going to be runnin' this farm and all your Pokemon are gonna get angry with you if you don't feed them right when they wake up. How would you feel if I didn't give you your waffles until supper time? I think you'd be pretty angry with me, right? I want you to go to bed extra early today. I think 5 in the afternoon would..." "Ma!" Sarah protests, some waffle particles escaping through her lips, "I don't wanna be punished for sleepin'! Goin' to bed before the sun goes down is downright insane - almost twice as insane as wakin' up right when it comes up. Shepherdin' a huge flock of Mareep isn't even what I really want to do with my life. Not yet, I mean. I'm still young and there's plenty of hands on this here farm of ours already. I'm already fifteen, so I think it's about time I go on a Pokemon Journey so..." "Oh, no, not this Pokemon Training stuff again!" Sarah's mother sits down at the breakfast table and places her arm on her own forehead, "Sarah, do you want your own mother to die prematurely? We need you here on this farm, dear, not out there in the big, huge, cruel world of Johto lookin' for some dumb badges." Sarah drops her fork, "They're not dumb badges, ma... and I'll wager Johto isn't half as cruel as you think it is, but I wanna find out for myself. Teddy likes this farm stuff way more than I do, and I think he can handle chores in here much better than I can." The previous statement gets dirty looks from Teddy. "I think I've talked about it enough. I'm... I'm going to go on my Pokemon Journey today. In fact, I'm gonna go right now!" She slides her chair back and speeds over to the door that leads outside. She pauses for a moment in order to strap on her sandals, which were laying right next to the door. During this pause, her mother approaches her. "I know I can't stop you, Sarah, but I strongly suggest you don't go anywhere." While Sarah's mother speaks, Sarah continues to work on tightening her sandal straps without looking up at her mother, who continues, "If you leave this house right now, don't expect a warm welcome when you come back, hurt and confused by society's ills. I'll take you in, since you're my daughter and I love you, but don't expect the kind of special treatment you get now and have been gettin' every day for the past fifteen years." There is no response from Sarah, who is now fastening her bag's strap around her chest. Sarah's mother sighs, "Don't be a stranger..." Sarah grabs her long wooden crook and when she tries to storm out the door, she finds that her beige skirt is being tugged on by someone. She turns around to see Teddy looking up at her with teary eyes. The tan-skinned young boy sadly says, "I'm gonna miss ya lots, Sarah. Ya can take a Mareep if ya like." Sarah's caring side wins over her current aggressive kick, "Thanks, Teddy." She bends down and hugs her little brother, then straightens up and kisses her mom on the cheek, "I'm glad to know that I have a home here, even though you probably think I'm being selfish. I just have to do this, ma. I hope you can understand... if not right now, then when I come back, smarter and more mature." Without speaking any more words, Sarah steps out into the bright morning sunshine. She spots her family's flock of Mareep up ahead, being kept in place by the family's pet Jolteon. She races over to the flock, crook in hand, looking to pick out her favorite one. Sarah looks past the many strong-looking Mareep that have heavy fleece, some of which appear ready to evolve into Flaafys, to a very shy young Mareep whose birth Sarah had witnessed not too long ago. She had named the Mareep Barbie and played with her while she grew up in the house until she was old enough to join the rest of the flock. Barbie doesn't quite fit in with the rest of the flock and doesn't like anyone else in Sarah's family except for Sarah, who had shown her so much love. The moment that Barbie spots Sarah in the field, she races over to her and rubs her fluffy fleece up against the teenage girl's legs, "Mareeee! Reeeep!" "Good news, Barbie!" Sarah hugs her sheep affectionately, "You don't have to stand around with this group of mean old Mareep who don't like you anymore." "Maaa?" The cute little electric sheep smiles and starts wagging her tail. Sarah stands up and uses her crook to lead Barbie away from the flock and away from the farm while she explains what's happening to her favorite Pokemon, "With your help, I'm gonna become a Pokemon Trainer! We're headin' to Violet City since I heard there's a Bird Pokemon Gym over there and I remember that birds are easily beaten by electric attacks. After we get our first badge, we're gonna explore the world of Johto and battle a whole bunch of Gym Leaders. We've gotten into Pokemon battles before with kids from other nearby Mareep farms, remember? Didn't you like those? Well, we're going to be battlin' a whole lot more now!" Barbie notices how excited her now official trainer is about Pokemon battling, so she hides the fact that she's terrified of battling and quietly replies, "Mareeep." -Sarah