Subject: [PW!] [WC] [R1] Day Two, Match Five: Something Fishy Date: Sat, 07 Dec 2002 05:52:06 GMT From: Adrian Tymes <wingcat@pacbell.net> Organization: Prodigy Internet http://www.prodigy.com Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon A mantine soared over the waves, nothing but ocean stretching to the horizon in all directions. Slowly, Aerie's mind came into focus after the long monotony of the journey. She was headed to the Whirl Cup to find the person who dared torment Kitsu. The fact that several powerful trainers, at least one of whom would probably have another shiny unown, had nothing to do with it; she wondered why the thought even crossed her mind. But she remembered that person's face well - kinda well...but at least she knew Kit...what was her name? Aerie frowned as the images faded from her mind. She struggled to concentrate, finding the task surprisingly tough. One rogue corner of her mind suggested that this was a trap, and she should turn around lest that ne'erdoell take advantage of her absence to ambush K...someone. Not the she could not defend herself, but there was really no reason for Aerie to be running away from her own parents after the unown picked up Dee's- Too used to the pattern by now to even sigh, the unown started the cycle *yet* again... --- A mantine crossed the beach onto Red Rock Isle, leaving behind a seemingly infinite expanse of ocean. The transition shocked Aerie back into full consciousness, and she immediately reflected on the long hole in her short term memory as she shifted back into human form. A quick glance back convinced her that she had merely dozed during the long journey, and she was soon back on her way to...to...the Whirl Cup competition. Where she had surely intended to compete and prove herself yet again! The unown were too tired to sweatdrop at Aerie's super-deformed self-portrait's victory pose. --- It was not until she passed the Renter's office that Aerie stopped to consider what pokemon she would use. Using pokemon like a trainer was so not her style, but she was not certain she could pass off being both trainer and pokemon - her dad had, but only in limited cases, and she had not #FREEDOM!# oh, right, she was going to use this as an excuse to free the rental pokemon. The other unown quickly shushed their comrade's urge to Explain their master plan, though X lent E moral support afterwards. With that, Aerie skipped into the office, looking around. "Hi," Oldman quickly greeted. "Sorry, but these pokemon are for the tournament only, and you're not on the list of-" A ringing phone interrupted him, so he picked it up. "Hello? Yes...yes...another one? They're dropping like butterfrees! ...okay, okay, hold on, I think I've got your suck-er, 'other contestant' right here. Give me a moment." Putting the phone aside, he continued, "Miss? I don't suppose you'd like to register for the Whirl Cup tournament?" "That's what I'm here for. Could you tell me where the registration desk is?" "Registration was yesterday, but we've just had an opening." "I'll take it." "Very good." Switching back to the phone, he continued, "I've got it. I'll send her over once everything's ready. You can thank me by paying me for my pokemon, instead of selling them to Team Ro-" With a frown, he hung up. "Ingrates. Anyway, miss, can I see your pokegear?" "Nope." "Thanks, just a-NO?" He blinked. "Why not?" "'Cause I don't have one." "Oh, you're from Kanto, are you? Okay, then, pokedex, please." "Don't have one of those, either." "Don't have...the dark type are you from, the Orange Islands?" "Mount Moon. Technically Kanto, technically that area north of Kanto." "No, really, where you from? There ain't no land north of Kanto." "Sure there is. I've been there." "Ha! Impossible. Kanto just goes up to Mount Moon and, bam, that's the edge of the world." "I'm telling you, there's land past Mount Moon. It just isn't Kanto." "Bah." "Look, mountains form when two plates of the Earth's crust collide and push each other up. Kanto's on one plate; the other is on the other side, and there's land there." "Nothing doing. Kanto just pushes up against the end of the world; *that's* what makes the mountains." "Look, surely you know there are many continents. Or do you believe, say, South America doesn't exist." "Sure it does! That's where they first found Mew! It's on the underside of the world. That's why they call it 'Down Under'." "That's *Australia*!" Aerie rolled her eyes. "Look, are you going to register me or not?" "Well, if I can't scan a pokedex or a pokegear, I'd have to type you in by hand, and...umm, well, y'see..." She folded her arms. "Yeeees?" "I...kinda...don't know how to type." He motioned to the computer's keyboard, placed as far away from the terminal as its cord would allow, dust at least half an inch thick on the keys. "I can deal with the rest of the computer - just scan this, plug that into the other thing, and zip, bang, you're done. But the keyboard *scares* me!" "Guuh!" Aerie rolled her eyes. "Here, let me." She grabbed the keyboard. "Wimp." "Wimp? WIMP? Now, see here-" She shoved the keyboard in his face. "YIPE!" He ducked under the counter. "Okay, okay! Do whatever you want! Rent as many pokemon as you want - heck, take a whole team of six and never come back for all I care! Just keep that thing AWAY from me!!!" Aerie grinned, and began typing. Although there were fields to accept lots of information, the "OK" button lit up as soon as she made the first keystroke. Curious, she clicked it after entering in just "Aerie". To her surprise, just that and a quick photo from the terminal's attached camera was sufficient for registration. She wondered, for a moment, about the tale her father had once heard about the present systems evolving from very minimalistic "play" systems, well before pokemon battling achieved its current obsession status, and thus which had never really been secured in case someone wanted to break in and cause havoc - as Team Rocket and others were wont to do. That done, she looked around the shop. She was tempted just to take all the pokemon, but Oldman's plea reminded her: legitimate trainers were only allowed to have six pokemon at a time. Hiding more would be difficult, especially since she was not about to use - yech! - pokeballs. Fifteen minutes later, Oldman peeked over the counter to find Aerie gone, along with most of his inventory. --- Whirl Cup guards were used to trainers occasionally making grand entrances. Aerie riding a shellder, which in turn was held aloft by a krabby and a shellder, flanked by a seel and a poliwag, made little impression on them. "Sorry, Miss, but this area is for Whirl Cup competitors only." "My name's Aerie. I was just added." The speaking guard pulled out his own pokegear, ignored it when it automatically went into scanning mode and picked up a ditto, and flipped to the recent messages section. "Hmm, yep, that you were. Says here you're using six pokemon from Oldman's shop?" "Yes. Is there a problem?" "Aside from the fact that you expect to win using rentals? Just that it's an odd way of putting it; usually they say 'rented'. Hmm...yep, there's five of yours, and I can see why you'd put your sixth in a pokeball even if you don't care about hiding what you've got." Aerie flicked her hair over her shoulder, trying to look semi-sexy and utterly failing with her young body. "Hey, if you've got it, flaunt it." "Sure, sure. Have fun, and remember, no matter how bad it is, Nurse Joy can fix up your pokemon." "You really think I'm going to lose? Tell you what, I'll make it a bet. A thousand coin." The guard smiled. "Uh-uh. One, I don't think you could cover it; two, if you *can* cover it, you've got some trick up your sleeve and either I'd lose or I'd be the one to carry you out of here for cheating." "Smart man, but I'm not cheating." Aerie smiled sweetly. "Honest." "That's what they all say. Move along." Once she was inside, the other guard spoke up. "So, want to bet she'll be disqualified? I saw your 'gear pick up a ditto." "No bets. Keep your 'gear on her pokemon during her match: something's up." --- "And now, match number five! First up, Rainer of the famous Eevee brothers!" The crowd cheered as Rainer and his vaporeon strutted out onto the white coral block, Rainer blowing kisses to a few of his female fans. Even his pokemon was getting into the act, posing and rolling over. "And his opponent, Aerie of...umm...hey, is your screen blank too? STILL ON THE AIR?!? Umm, ahh, well, let's hear it for Aerie!" The cheering quickly died off, though more than one pair of eyes recognized the purple haired girl that strolled out, winked, and wagged her finger at Rainer. "Ooh, just asking for me to spank you, aren't you?" Rainer sweatdropped. "Aren't you a little young to be saying that?" "Maybe you'd like to wash my mouth out?" "Come on, put one of your pokemon in the water and let's fight. Vaporeon!" As Rainer's pokemon jumped in, Aerie twirled and pointed skywards. "Come on, come on, I haven't got all day!" Aerie frowned, a bit strained, and looked to the ref. "Just start the match, okay?" The referee looked up, and blinked. "Rainer chooses vaporeon. Aerie chooses goldeen. Let the match begin...how is that POSSIBLE?!?" "Huh?" Rainer finally took the clue and looked up, just in time to see a goldeen come crashing down right onto his unsuspecting eevee evolution. "What a start! Let's see that on instant replay!" Inside his booth, the announcer was trying to find any camera that had been pointed skywards, but found no dice. By the time the goldeen had been spotted on camera, it was already on its way down; although he knew the guards would want evidence that Aerie had been levitating the goldeen by technological or psychic means, there was none to be had, and the ignorant crowds would be much more likely to believe that a goldeen had learned how to fly. One of the first rules of these events was to play to the crowd. It did not take long for the vaporeon to surface again, the goldeen somehow having managed to get its opponent's head inside the fish's mouth. The vaporeon thrashed, bucked, and swam, but Aerie's pokemon managed to twist clear of any solid obstruction, and its opponent was soon running low on air. Rainer shouted some orders, but few could hear them over the wild splashing of his pokemon's panic attack, and soon he just began trying to recall his pokemon. It took four tries for the beam to connect with the erratic vaporeon, but on the fourth try it did, and brought home its target. "Vaporeon has been recalled. Match goes to Aerie!" Aerie bounced for joy twice, spun on her heel, and pumped her fist as her goldeen swam back. She plucked it out of the water and scurried away with her other pokemon, avoiding the eskimo who was up next. --- Fortunately, the fish was able to hold its breath in ample time for Aerie to reach the nearest beach and drop it in the ocean. "Thanks! I can take it from here, you guys. Go on-" "Squirt!" "Der!" "Liwag!" "Huh? But-" "Krab!" "Eel!" "Gold!" "...but I thought you'd want to be free. Seriously: I'm letting you go. Don't you want to be free?" "Squirt squirt." "...ooh, I see. You *let* him catch you 'cause you wanted to be in this tournament more'n anything else." "Squirt!" The squirtle made a thumbs up. "Well...okay, then. If you really want to. But you're all rental pokemon. You know you'll probably lose." "Squirt. Squirt squirt." "You don't care? You figure you'll learn something? Well...hey, I know! Why don't I teach you a few things my dad taught me?" "Squiiiiirt?!?" The squirtle's surprise dissolved when Aerie transformed back into a mantine. The seven headed out to sea, Aerie ignoring something tugging at the back of her brain that she should really be scouting out the other trainers. Which did not last long: the other unown quickly convinced X that physically tugging at Aerie's brain was dangerous, and would do little good anyway with her real mind distributed through her body.