From: Rob (robfrompw@yahoo.com) Subject: [PW!] The Afternoon After Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2001-08-22 01:35:05 PST Sarah hugs her pillow extra tightly, a product of the dream she's having. Her lips are open a little and her heavy breathing sounds like light snoring to the Mareep, Cyndaquil, and Slowpoke surrounding her bed waiting for her to awaken. Eye, the Unown who was there a few hours ago, left after having absorbed information from everyone who slept in the cabin. No one noticed what Eye did and Eye was quite glad that this was the case. Sarah's Pokemon are startled when Sarah suddenly shrieks and throws her pillow away, simultaneously rolling out of bed. Fortunately for her, her head lands on Barbie's soft fleece! "Maaaa!" Barbie squeals and collapses under the pressure of Sarah's head and shoulders, "Ree reep..." Sarah gulps, her eyes wide open now, pulse racing, "Wh-what was th-that supposed to mean?" Even though she landed on her rear end, she raises her hand up to her head and rubs that area instead. The pain there is mental, not physical, but it soon passes. She stands up and looks out the window, "It's still night time?" Having heard commotion coming from the room, Travis knocks on the door and awaits Sarah's response, not wanting to walk in on her if she's indisposed. After adjusting her white woolen shirt and strapping on her leather sandals, Sarah quietly but audibly replies, "C-come in." Travis enters the room and is a little confused when Sarah's eyes grow wide and she takes a step back. He says, "I overheard your question on the way in." "Wh-what?" Sarah looks down at the floor, appearing a bit embarrassed, "The... the one about it s-still bein' night?" Travis nods and continues, "Yeah, and I'm here to say good afternoon. You're the last person to wake up, Sarah. Everyone else already had breakfast and is about to go their separate ways. Sylvester's dad was nice enough to give Charcoal to everyone who wanted some but I see your Cyndaquil already has some." "Y-yeah..." Since Travis' presence is making her nervous, she Sarah recalls Blazer into his Fast Ball and Luthor into his Lure Ball then drags Barbie outside the room, her head lowered the entire time, eyes never making contact with Travis'. She heads past the now cleared breakfast table and leaves the cabin, surprised to find everyone who helped bring the logs over to the cabin, except for Mimic and Travis, standing there. Sylvester, his Farfetch'd, his dad, and his dad's Magmar are standing in front of Jason, Amber, and Amber's Pokemon while Becky is tapping her foot, impatiently waiting for Travis. Sarah quietly says, "Hi." Travis, still standing in the room that Sarah slept in, wonders why the girl was so nervous around him just now. He shrugs and heads outside to join the others. Upon leaving the cabin, Becky addresses him saying, "There you are. Where are we going next?" Travis replies, "You know, that's a very good question." "Well, I know where Jason and I are going!" Amber says, her usual cheerfulness restored after a good night's rest that was uninterrupted after that one unpleasant nightmare. She points one of her claws southward, "We're going back to Azalea Town to try to win Badges from the Gym Leader there. Bye, everyone!" To test if he's regained the ability that makes or breaks his career as a musician, Jason, who looks much better than he did yesterday, sings, "Thank you, Sylvester and Charcoal Man, for all your hospitality. Many thanks to Sarah for helping me regain my vitality!" He smiles, glad that his singing sounds rather good and also happy that he got around to thanking Sarah for her help. He notices the bashful smile on her face even though she's looking downward, then says, "Well, everyone, I guess this is good bye. It's been fun, but we've gotta run. Next time I hold a concert, ask for VIP tickets!" That said, Jason and Amber wander off. Travis then turns to Sarah, who is silently petting her Mareep, and asks in a gentle voice, "Where are you headed, Sarah?" "M-me?" Sarah is startled by Travis' voice, despite its gentleness, and she replies, "Oh, I'm h-headin' to the n-next city... In fact, I think I'd b-better start walkin' if I w-wanna get there b-before sundown, so good... good bye y'all!" When the Charcoal Man offers to cook her breakfast, she politely declines. Sarah scurries away without looking up from the twig-covered ground of the Ilex Forest, followed quite eagerly by Barbie, who is happy to finally be leaving such a large group of people, all of whom she suspected of conspiring against her and Sarah. Barbie's tail wags as she chases after Sarah. Becky raises an eyebrow, "What a weird girl. Anyway, Travis, once again: Where do we go next?" Travis just stares at the nervous shepherdess as she flees. About ten minutes later, already having walked quite far away from the Charcoal Man's cabin but still in the Ilex Forest, Sarah gasps, "Mimic!" Hearing his name, Mimic, the pebble on Barbie's back, wakes up. Experiencing quite a hangover, Mimic reverts his body to that of a Ditto, not in the mood to be anything else right now. Groggy but conscious of the words that woke him up, Mimic asks from his place on Barbie's back, "Sarah call Mimic?" "Oh, what a relief..." Sarah smiles, looking down at Mimic the Ditto. Not knowing how to read a Ditto's body language, she asks, "Feelin' any better today, Mimic?" -Sarah ( NS: That was a fun event. I liked the way that it turned out. Thanks for participating, everyone who did! )