Subject: [PW!] Bored With Chores Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 18:25:23 GMT From: Rob <robfrompw@yahoo.com> Organization: AT&T Worldnet Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon A sixteen-year-old blonde country girl, dressed in a white shirt and long beige skirt, is on her knees, scrubbing the floor of her uncle's farm's living room with a wet rag. She glances over at the leather sandals by the farm's only exit to the outside world. She hasn't worn them in the past week since she hasn't been able to leave her farm and she's used to walking around her house in bare feet, even though her grandma insists that it's improper behavior. The teenager sighs, remembering the times she spent the whole day walking alongside Mimic on her Pokemon Journey, wearing out her now abandoned sandals. Resting next to the bored shepherdess that isn't allowed to tend to Mareep anymore due to all the indoor chores she's been doing are Barbie the Flaaffy and Sarah's Sunkern, both asleep since they have been helping Sarah with her chores since dawn. Barbie helped by using the one remaining tuft of fleece on her neck to polish table legs and chairs while Sunkern floated up to the ceiling and cleaned the it with the leaves sprouting from her head. Both Pokemon curled up in a corner of the living room and fell asleep from exhaustion just as Sarah began scrubbing the living room floor. Sarah's pleased that they've learned how to be responsible and work together during the past few weeks on the farm observing her family, but she feels that it's time for her and her Pokemon to resume their Training. "Ohhh, Sarah!" A young boy with short blonde hair enters the living room from outside, holding an infant Teddiursa with one arm, "I got good news an' bad news. Good news is you don't gotta scrub the floor anymore today. Bad news is Uncle Bob told me to tell ya he wants ya to clean the bathroom. The steamed Krabby ma cooked last might musta not settled well in his belly, cuz the toilet got clogged up this mornin' when he used it - it overflowed so bad he got a pair of his boots all messy. In fact, after yer done with the bathroom, ya gotta clean his slimy boots! He put 'em in the windowsill for ya. Any questions?" As her little brother spoke, Sarah's grimaced more and more, and now her face clearly expresses just how disgusted she is, "Yeah, Teddy, I got a question - how come Uncle Bob's been treatin' me so rough since I came back? You, ma, grandma, and grandpa are happy I'm back but he hasn't even hugged me. He just keeps givin' me all sorts of indoor chores and doesn't let me leave when I tell him I gotta resume my Pokemon Journey. I need six more Badges! You got any idea what his problem is?" "I think he's mad 'cuz you left last year without tellin' him anythin'." Teddy replies, petting the Teddiursa he's holding, "Remember how I told ya he was fumin' for days when ma told him you were gone? He's probably still mad, just in a much quieter way. Y'know, I wish I could just sit around an' figure out what's eatin' Uncle Bob, but if I don't go back out to help him with the flock an' you don't get to cleanin' the bathroom, he's gonna get ticked, so we'd better get to work!" Sarah sighs once more, then asks, "Teddy, do you think you... uhm, could you try to convince Uncle Bob to let me leave home?" "No way!" Teddy shakes his head enthusiastically, then explains, "One, it's bad enough Uncle Bob's mad at you - I don't want him mad at me too. Two, I don't want ya to leave home either - I missed ya terribly when ya weren't here, Sarah, an' it's not just 'cuz I had to do all the work you do when yer here. Three, I've grown really attached to yer Teddiursa, and if ya go, then he goes too, an' I've lost my favorite sister and one of my favorite Pokemon." Both Teddy and Sarah's Teddiursa frown. Sarah stays on her knees and clasps her hands together as she pleads, "Please, Teddy - I promise to send mail more often and you can keep Teddiursa here with you as company! I've noticed he's grown attached to you too these past few weeks, and I wouldn't wanna pry you away from each other. You just gotta help me, Teddy! You're a boy and Uncle Bob listens more to guys than to girls. He even listens to you more than to ma and grandma sometimes! I've already gone to grandpa, and he told me that he'll agree to my leavin' only if uncle agrees, but that he's not gonna try to convince uncle to let me go. Ma and grandma said basically the same thing - I think they all think he'll never agree. Please talk with Uncle Bob for me, Teddy!" Teddy looks down at his kneeling big sister, who's eyes are now watery. Right after she hugs him around his waist, Teddy sighs, "Ohhhh... all right. But if I get in trouble, you owe me big time. Heck, even if I don't, you owe me big time." "Fine, but don't swear." Sarah hops up and kisses her brother's face repeatedly, saying "thank you!" each time she does so. When Sarah's done showing her affection, Teddy rubs his face with one hand and heads back outside, hoping Uncle Bob's not angry that he spent so much time inside since he was only supposed to deliver his message to Sarah then get back to work. A big smile remains on Sarah's face until a sudden breeze passing through a nearby window sends some of the horrible stench on her uncle's boots to her nostrils, reminding her of her newest chore. Not wanting to disappoint her uncle, who thinks she's very lazy, Sarah walks into the farm's kitchen to get a mop and bucket. Inside the kitchen, Sarah's mom is preparing lunch for the entire family with the help of Blazer, Sarah's Cyndaquil. Blazer's Ember is heating the pot Sarah's mom's putting ingredients into. Sarah grins at her Pokemon and says, "I'm glad you're learnin' how to be a team player, Blazer!" "Blazer's a big help around the kitchen!" Sarah's mom exclaims, "I don't have to walk all the way to the Azalea Town Pokemart to buy Charcoal anymore!" She leans down to pat the Charcoal-Coat-wearing Cyndaquil on the back, "I'm so glad he's here with us. At least some good came from that little Pokemon Journey you took. Sure, all the other Pokemon you brought home with you are pretty much worthless, but you brought home one winner so the Journey wasn't a complete waste..." "Ma!" Sarah frowns and puts her hands on her hips, "My Pokemon Journey's not over yet, so please stop talkin' about it as if it was, and my other Pokemon all have valuable talents - they may not be skilled in cookin', but they're not worthless." Sarah's mother sighs at her daughter's insistence that her Pokemon Journey has not ended, "Didn't your Journey teach you that the world's a really cruel place? I overheard you tellin' Teddy about a really mean biker girl who stole one of those badges you care so much about from you. Why would you ever return to a world full of girls and, even worse, guys like her?" "MA! Stop spyin' on me and Teddy!" Sarah pulls a bucket out of a cabinet and drops it in the sink to fill it with water and soap, "Didn't you overhear the rest of the story? How a friend of mine named Bob heard what happened and got me my Badge back from her? For every Bitter Berry in the world, there's a whole buncha good Berries. I told you all about my experiences with Mimic and that group of friendly people I met in the Ilex Forest - there's more good in the world than bad." Sarah's mom shakes her head, "I can't believe it. You walk around Johto for a few weeks and you think you know everythin'." "Not everythin', but more than I would've known had I stayed here." Sarah grabs a mop leaning up against the wall with one hand and her bucket full of soapy water with the other and marches out of the kitchen. About a minute after she leaves, Luthor the Slowpoke crawls into the kitchen, stands up on his hind legs, and glares at Sarah's mom, "How DARE you call Luthor 'pretty much worthless'?!" Luthor spends the next five minutes trying to exact revenge on the woman by psychically shattering the pot she's using to prepare lunch, but his head simply shakes increasingly more as time passes until he faints from exhaustion. -Sarah