Subject: [PW!] Don't be a Spike Ball to Violet City While Drinking Your Milk in the Woods Date: 30 Oct 2002 22:26:09 -0800 From: bandraptor@yahoo.com (Bandraptor) Organization: http://groups.google.com/ Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Cappie, a female Hitmontop who's dressed in human clothing, is walking through the Violet Forest, an uncharacteristically concerned look on her face. She looks to her left, and to her right, then straight out in front of her, and sighs, seeing nothing but trees in every direction. Her student, a Magby by the name of Gar, is running cheerfully alongside her, zigzagging all over the place, and taking about 15 steps in any number of directions for every one step that Cappie plants along the dirt path. He's playing with a big stick that he picked up about an hour back, swinging it around like a bokken, and swatting at every low hanging branch that he sees along the road. Cappie smiles at her student, impressed that he's still completely energized despite the long hike. Then she frowns inwardly, "We've been walking for hours, without any sign of a town," she says to herself, "I hope we aren't lost." She scans the trail again, and is relieved when she sees a man walking towards her. "I'll ask him for directions." Cappie jogs up the path, towards the newcomer, and meets him in no time, because he's also moving at a fast pace. She greets him cheerfully, "Hi! I'm--" "Out of my way!" The man yells, pushing past her. He continues on down the trail, past Gar, who immediately jumps out of the way, and hides in the bushes until he's gone. Cappie stares after the man with a baffled expression. "Oh well," she shrugs, "I'll just ask someone else." She backtracks to retrieve Gar, then the two of them start up the trail again. It isn't more than a couple of minutes before another person comes down the trail--this time it's a woman, and she has two small children in tow. "Ah, a mother." Cappie notes, thinking of how kindly all of the mothers back in her home town are, "I'm sure she'll give us directions." She hops over to the woman and bows, "Excuse me! I--" "Why are you stopping me?" The woman snaps, "Do you *want* us to get killed?" She elbows Cappie out of the way, then grabs her two children by the hands, and takes off running. Gar, firmly attached to Cappie's leg, whistles, "Beee..." "Hmm..." Cappie strokes her chin. She looks up the trail again, and sees a third person approaching them, also at high speed. She watches his face as he moves towards them, noticing how he intentionally avoids making eye contact with both Gar and herself, a nonverbal signal which says that he has no intention of stopping for either of them. Cappie smirks apologetically, and sticks out her foot. "Woah!" Cappie catches the man as he stumbles, "Oh, I'm sorry! Are you all right?" The man nods, and starts to straighten up so he can leave. "Yeah--" "Listen." Cappie says, maintaining her hold on the man so that he can't quite regain his balance, "The two of us are lost. Does this path lead to the next town?" The man looks over his shoulder, towards the end of the trail, "You mean Violet City?" He shakes his head. "You're off the main route. This trail does end in Violet, but you don't want to take it." Cappie relaxes her hold, glad that she's found someone who will at least talk to her. "What do you mean?" "There's a monster blocking this trail!" The man exclaims, "Haven't you seen how everybody's running? We all detour onto this part of the trail from Route 30. It's dangerous enough at this point. Nobody goes any farther north than this, because that's where the monster lives." Cappie's eyes widen, "What kind of monster?" she asks anxiously, "Is it a big one with green scales?" "You think I've gone close enough to take a look? You've gotta be kidding!" The man slaps her hands away. "If I were you, I'd head back the way you came. The monster attacks everyone that crosses its path. There's no getting past that thing." He shoves by her, and runs down the trail. Cappie stares after the frightened traveler until he's disappeared over a rise in the trail. "He *must* be scared." she murmurs, "He didn't even stick around to ask me silly questions about being a talking female Hitmontop who's also a Pokémon trainer..." "Bee..." Gar's eyes light up, "Magby magma magby?" Cappie laughs good-naturedly at his request, "So far you've hidden from every human we've met, and now you want to see a *monster*? How do you explain that?" "Magby..." Gar looks at her like she's the stupidest Hitmontop on earth as he explains that humans are scary, whereas monsters are very cool. "Gar," Cappie says, "remember to be objective when listening to rumors. I don't think any of those humans have actually seen this 'monster'. It may just be a frightened Pokémon. Or it may not be anything at all." "Magby," Gar rolls his eyes. He swings his stick around for emphasis as he repeats his request, "Magby, magma magby?" "It isn't our job to fight the monsters of the world." Cappie explains. "Even if this *is* a monster, it has a right to live here, just as the Darkness have a right to live in the Silver Mountains. However, since this monster is doing humans harm, we will investigate it." "Magby!" Gar cheers. Cappie looks down the trail, and thinks, but does not verbalize her concern, 'If this *is* a Darkness that has wandered down from the Mountains, then I want to know about it.' The two of them continue down the trail. Gar is holding his stick tensely in front of him, constantly scanning the underbrush for any sign of the monster. Cappie is also alert, but she is relaxed at the same time. Because of this, she is able to remain vigilant long after Gar has lost interest, and has started to limp along sleepily, with his stick dragging in the dirt behind him. They continue on for another half an hour, and they don't pass a single living creature, but as they top a cliff, and round a corner, Cappie notices a line of houses in the valley below them. "Look, Gar." She taps his shoulder, rousing the dosing Magby, "This must be the town that Jacqueline was talking about. Why don't we stay there for the night, and then in the morning we can continue to look for the monster..." FWOOOOM!!! A huge, horizontal pillar of fire erupts from the bushes to their right, and Cappie has to stop midstep to avoid walking into it. She blinks in surprise, "Is this--" She's cut off when a machine gun-like hail of ice pellets comes flying at her out of the bushes. Cappie dives to avoid them, grabbing Gar with one arm, and holding him protectively against her chest while rolling over the other arm. CHI~RAK. Cappie stops mid-roll, and kicks back with her leading foot to propel herself away from the gaping fissure that's opened in the ground in front of her. No sooner has she done that, when she has to dodge in the other direction, as a slicing gale of wind obliterates the earth behind her! All of a sudden, Cappie finds herself confined to a tiny chunk of land, and out of the corner of her eye, she can see another attack moving towards her... Pop. Pop, pop, pop. Four bubbles come floating out of the bushes, and fade out of existence more than a foot away from Cappie's head. Cappie narrows her eyes, and places Gar on the ground. "This *isn't* a Darkness," she murmurs, dismayed by the careless attack pattern. She moves some leaves aside, and proceeds into the bushes. When Cappie steps out into the clearing, she instinctively looks up, expecting to see an adversary of monstrous proportions. However, all she sees are the tops of the trees. She looks down a little lower, but still nothing. She looks even lower, but still nothing. Finally, she tilts her head so that she's almost looking directly at the ground, and addresses the only other Pokémon in the clearing, "Are you the monster that's been scaring all of those humans?" "Ge," the diminutive Pokémon with the egg-shaped body responds in a deceptively sweet voice, glaring murderously at the Hitmontop who's evaded his attacks. He closes his eyes, raises his fingers high in the air, and grins in a way that's meant to be sinister, but actually comes off as extremely adorable, "Toge! Toge! Toge! Priiiii!" The tips of his fingers light up, and he lowers his sharply pointed head as he charges directly at Cappie! ...Then he runs right past her, and jumps into a pile of fallen cherry blossoms, where he proceeds to prance around like a tiny toddler tapdancer. "Ge?!?" Gar steps through the bushes, very eager to meet the gigantic Charizard that he thinks was responsible for the initial Flamethrower attack. "Magby?" He mutters in disappointment, when all that he sees is a playful little baby, who doesn't appear to be antagonistic at all. "Toge!" Annoyed that his Metronome attack didn't result in the Explosion that he wanted, the little egg Pokémon kicks his way out of the petal pile--with an innate charm that obscures his wrathfulness--and resumes his bullying, "Toge! Toge! Toge~!" He swings his fingers back and forth, then runs up to Cappie and Gar, and hands each of them a gorgeously wrapped present. "Hey, thanks!" Cappie exclaims, unwrapping her Berry. "Magby!" Gar quacks graciously, giving his Potion to Cappie to hold. "Toge!" Unable to believe his bad luck, the third Pokémon raises his fingers yet again, and hops endearingly about, trying to Metronome an attack that will splatter his opponents all over the forest. "Toge! Toge!" Nothing happens. "Toge!" He shakes his fingers out and tries once more, before realizing that he's all out of Metronome PP. "Priiii!" Furious that his opponents aren't dead yet, he reaches for Cappie's neck, and tries to strangle her. Cappie looks down at the cute baby Pokémon, with his outstretched arms, and assumes that he wants to be picked up. She does just that, and cradles him lovingly, "Aren't you sweet?" She coos, "And to think, I almost mistook you for the monster that was terrorizing all of those people!" "Ge!" The little Pokémon flails about in her arms, enraged that he isn't getting credit for all of his hard work. "Toge!" Cappie looks around the clearing, scanning once more for signs of other Pokémon. She addresses the baby, "Are you here all by yourself?" "To!" The Pokémon screams affirmatively, trying to get it through her head that since he's the only Pokémon in the forest, he *has* to be the monster in question--and she'd better give him the respect he deserves. Cappie nods, seemingly understanding. "If you're by yourself, then the monster must have run away--I guess we scared it off. Still, I can't leave a baby Pokémon alone in a dangerous place like this. You'd better come with us." "GE?!?" The Pokémon shouts hatefully, or at least he means for it to sound like a hateful "ge?!?," but unfortunately for him, it comes out as an adorable "ge!" with about fifty hearts after it. Encouraged by his response, Cappie motions to Gar, and they resume their walk towards town. "What's your name?" Cappie asks of the newcomer, as he seethes within her arms. The Pokémon grunts, "Togep." "'Togep,' is it?" Cappie grins widely, "Well, you're just a little guy, so I'm going to call you 'Togepy'!" Togepy lets out a furious, but oh-so-cute scream, as he contemplates life with his new friends and his new nickname. TBC? --Beth, with a Tyranitar in her sig. "SCREAAAAAHHHHHH!"