From: Rob (robfrompw@yahoo.com) Subject: [PW!] New Beginnings Blow Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2001-04-23 00:11:01 PST Sarah strolls into New Bark Town late at night, followed closely by a sleepy sheep Pokemon. Barbie the Mareep would have already been asleep if she were back home, since at sundown, Sarah's mom would always corral the Mareep flock in the barn where the only thing that could be done to ward off insanity was sleep. Not only would the Mareep be corralled, but Sarah would also be forced to stay indoors after sundown, so now she's really excited about seeing New Bark Town at night - the lamp posts lining the roads are lit, the windows of houses have light pouring through them, and Sarah is staring bright eyed at all the sights. Mimic, who is still disguised as Sarah, follows the shepherdess, not as impressed with the town as she is, "Sarah look like never seen night before." "Oh, don't be silly, I've SEEN night before..." Sarah explains, grabbing onto one of the lamp post poles with her hand to spin around it a few times, "...but only through the window in my room. I've never actually experienced it! It's so amazin'... the moon, and stars, the artificial lights! It's all so glamorous!" Mimic imagines that his traveling companion would be having seizures right now if she saw Celadon City or Neon Town at night. Remembering how similar Sarah and her Mareep act sometimes, he glances down at the ground to see if Barbie is reacting to the dim lights the same way her trainer is. He's surprised to see that, quite the contrary, the Mareep's eyelids about to completely cover her eyes - she's falling asleep. The moment Barbie sees that Mimic is looking at her, she's shocked back into complete consciousness, and she stands up straight, ready to run away if the Ditto attempts to do something to her, "Reep." Sarah excitedly follows the lamp posts down New Bark Town's main road, admiring the night's sky as she walks, and Mimic and Barbie follow her at a slower place, both not as excited about night time as Sarah is, but for different reasons. Sarah follows the road until she unintentionally arrives at the place she was supposed to be looking for - Professor Elm's Lab. She whistles in awe at the large architectural masterpiece, which looks even more awesome to her since it's basking in the moonlight, but is disappointed to read a sign hanging from the main entrance that reads, "Professor Elm has actually gone home for once. If you need to see him, come back tomorrow." Sarah turns around and sees the grimace on her face across from her own face, since Mimic is also disappointed. 'Sarah' explains 'her' disappointment, "Mimic saw Pokemon Center on way over. No vacancy. Want walk back Cherrygrove for night?" "All the way back to Cherrygrove? No!" Sarah shakes her head. Her aggressive side kicks into full gear for a moment, replacing her usual timidity, "We're just gonna have to knock on doors and ask people if we can stay in their house for the night. Back in the countryside, people are real hospitable. I don't know how people are in a city big enough to have lamp posts, but it's worth a try!" Although Sarah's shy nature would normally prevent her from even considering asking random strangers for a place to sleep, her feet are aching so much from spending the whole day walking that more walking is out of the question. In fact, that's why she picks one of the houses nearest to the Lab to approach first. She walks up to the house's porch and knocks on the door without hesitation, but her aggressiveness quickly melts away when a woman actually answers the door. She bows her head and begins stuttering, "P-please, ma'am, I - could I - we - me and... Pokemon... I..." "What sister means say is..." 'Sarah' walks up calmly behind Sarah, placing 'her' hands on her shoulders in an effort to relax her, "Pokemon Center full. We have no place stay. Could please let us stay here?" Mimic tries his best to speak English without it sounding choppy, but he still omits a few words using his natural voice. He would try to mimic Sarah's speech patterns, but he's concerned that doing so would cause him to stutter as well, depending on how well he's gotten at Transforming into people over the years. In any case, the accent ends up being beneficial, since the woman thinks that the twin girls are foreign exchange students from a distant country since they both have difficulty speaking English, so she feels compelled to help them out. When the woman lets them into her home, 'Sarah' smiles, "Thanks." Sarah, 'Sarah', and Barbie are asked by the woman who let them into her house to sit down at a large table in the middle of the living room, along with a little boy who is patiently waiting with her arms crossed to eat. The table has been set and large untouched plates of food in the center of it are getting cold. Sarah and 'Sarah' sit next to each other at the table across from the young boy and Barbie curls up in the corner to rest, but she keeps one eye open since she doesn't trust the Ditto or the strangers in the room. Sarah folds her arms over each other, and tries to be polite despite the fact that she has just recently become aware that she's hungry. Without looking at the lady who let her into her house, she sheepishly asks, "C-can I p-please have some... some food?" "We're waiting for my husband to come home." The housewife walks over to the table holding a breadbasket, places it in the center, and takes a seat next to her daughter, "He promised he would today so I prepared dinner, but he's already thirty minutes late. He's always so busy, but when he makes a promise, I..." She's interrupted by a knock on the door, "Oh, that must be him now!" She gets up and walks over to the door, letting in a slim balding male scientist wearing glasses and a lab coat. Before his wife can speak, the man explains, "Sorry, honey, there were problems at the Lab - a severe Sun Stone shortage kept me from finishing one of my Evolution experiments. I had to go to the Pokemon Center and - oh, hey, I didn't know we were going to have company over. Who are our guests?" Since Sarah is stunned into silence by being in the presence of an adult male, 'Sarah' is the one who has to do the speaking, "Hi. My name Zarah and my sister name Sarah." Mimic pauses for a moment, then waves over at the Mareep laying down in the corner, "Oh, and that Mareep name Barbie. Your wife let us stay for night." The man who had just walked into his house sits down at the head of the table, "Is that so? Well, I have no problem with that. My name's-" The conversation at the table is once again interrupted by a knocking at the door. The scientist looks over to his wife, "Honey, could you please get that?" "Sure thing." The woman walks over to the door, looks through the peephole, then sighs, "Nurse Joy again?" She reluctantly opens the door, and the nurse tries to pop her head through the door to see if the scientist is home, but the scientist's wife doesn't let her through the door. She whispers, "What do you want, Nurse Joy?" "I'm here to see the professor." The nurse takes a small glowing rock out of her pocket, "He left one of his Sun Stones at the Pokemon Center, and-" The professor's wife takes the Sun Stone and tries to close the door, but Nurse Joy's foot is in the way. She narrows her eyes at Joy and speaks in a hushed voice so that her husband doesn't hear her, "I'll make sure he gets the Sun Stone. The professor is trying to have a dinner with his family, Nurse Joy. I don't know why you keep insisting on seeing my husband all the time. All I know is that ever since you petitioned to get a Pokemon Center built in New Bark Town and have been working here ever since, you've been spending an inordinate amount of time around my husband. Find some other professor to spend your time with, because my husband is already taken." She kicks Nurse Joy's foot out of the way before she can say anything else and slams the door shut. "Who was that, honey?" The professor asks, taking a bite of the bread that was laid out for him, which relieves Sarah, who immediately starts eating the bread - she was waiting for the man of the house to take the first bite, a practice that was traditional in her rural patriarchal home. The professor's wife plasters a superficial smile on her face, "Oh, that was just Nurse Joy... from the Pokemon Center. She came to give you this, but she couldn't stay for dinner." She places the Sun Stone on the table next to him on the table, then asks, "Now, what were you saying?" "Oh yeah..." The professor looks over at his guests, pauses a moment to swallow some bread, then says, "My name's Professor Elm." Sarah gasps, almost choking on the bread she had in her mouth, but Mimic doesn't look too surprised when he says, "Saw that one coming from mile away." -Sarah