Subject: [PW!] [WC] For Whom The Belle Scowls Date: Fri, 13 Dec 2002 10:15:34 GMT From: Rob <robfrompw@yahoo.com> Organization: AT&T Worldnet Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Belle looks up from a corner of the eastern training area to see that she's the only person left in the area except for one Whirl Cup Guard. She's been sitting in that corner ever since she lost her match against Trent at around 10 AM in the morning. It's 7 PM now and all eight matches of Round Two have been held, though since her match, she hasn't watched any of the other matches, bummed about her loss among other things. The only match she paid some attention to was the one between Karen and Aerie, and that was only because there was so much commotion surrounding her between the end of that match and the start of the following one. It was around 2 PM in the afternoon at the time. Belle was minding her own business, thinking about what to tell Chuck at the end of the day, when all of a sudden a man snuck into the preparation area. She didn't see who it was until he was pointing his gun across the Arena and then it was too late to react before the shot was fired. From her vantage point, she saw the man was Trent, the same man who had defeated her earlier in battle, and she saw him disappear into the shadows after firing the gun. She didn't see who was shot or who was inadvertently shot, though she did find out later that both Karen and Aerie were shot by paying attention to what the Guards announced over their walkie talkies as they ran through the stadium's halls, looking for the criminal who had escaped. When Trent was caught, the Whirl Cup announcer told everyone at the Coliseum who hadn't run out in a panic to remain calm - that the criminal had been caught and put back in prison, that Karen was being raced to the hospital, that they were going to search for Aerie since she wasn't in the pool, and that the day's remaining four matches would go on as planned. Soon after this announcement was made, Travis, the guy she had found rather attractive when she saw him earlier that morning, showed up at the preparation area, out of breath from having run all the way from the Scarlet City Coliseum. He asked a Guard, the same Guard currently sharing the area with Belle, what happened. Belle listened to the entire explanation, scowling when she heard that Trent shot a little girl as well as the woman he had attacked earlier. What's worse was that she knew she couldn't do anything about it - she had hoped to teach Trent a lesson during her match but she was unaware of just how warped the man was. Feeling helpless, and still worried about having to confront her Master after having lost her match, Belle just grabbed her knees and rolled up into a little ball as Travis ran out to battle Robert. She heard people in the audience cheering during the match and she couldn't believe some people in the crowd of people were still able to cheer after what had happened to Aerie and Karen. Belle remembers that Travis had said something to her after losing his match, but she wasn't paying much attention since she was buried in her thoughts, her eyes closed and her arms wrapped around her legs. She has a vague memory of Cappie the Hitmontop and Brome exchanging some final Magikarp training tips, then she doesn't remember anything else about the following two matches. She's familiar with this feeling since she's experienced it on a much grander scale not too long ago. She stretches out her legs and arms as far as they can go, flexing her fingers and toes to shake off the stasis she's been in since she lost her match against Trent. Belle yawns, and the Guard notices her. "Oh, you're still here?" The Whirl Cup Guard walks over to the gi-clad blonde girl and offers her his hand to help her stand. "I don't need your help to get up." Belle says scornfully, rising to her feet without the Guard's help, "What time is it?" The Guard looks down at his watch before answering, "It's a little after seven o'clock. The last match ended about half an hour ago - it was quite good, actually. Too bad you were asleep and missed it!" "Asleep, huh?" Belle rubs her eyes, "That's a relief. For a moment there, I thought my amnesia was getting worse... Wait, did you just say it's seven o'clock?! I've gotta get to the Pokemon Center to have dinner with Chuck and his students! They're probably waitin' for me!" Forgetting formalities, Belle jogs out of the preparation area without saying good-bye to the Guard. Once out of the Coliseum, she races down the well-lit streets of Scarlet City to the local Pokemon Center, her mind racing even faster than her legs, trying to finalize what she's going to say to her Master about her match against Trent. "Belle!" Chuck shouts the moment Belle enters the Scarlet City Pokemon Center. He's standing with his arms crossed over his bare chest at the blonde girl who just entered the lobby, "There you are! Why didn't you come sit with me and your fellow students after you lost your match?!" "I-I'm... I... W-what... I didn't mean..." Belle stutters, finding the nervous state she's in somewhat familiar, though she doesn't know why - this is the first time she's remembered experiencing this emotion since she woke up at the Cianwood City Hospital and didn't remember what she did before going to sleep, "I was thinkin'... and I f-fell asleep, and I didn't..." Chuck puts his large hands on Belle's shoulders and says in his stern voice, "We wanted to congratulate you, Belle." "...I d-didn't... What?" Belle asks, raising both of her eyebrows at once, "Congratulate me? But... I lost..." "But you battled really well with plenty of spirit. You took down a Feraligatr!" Chuck smiles at his female student, "All the guys went wild when that Feraligatr fainted! Believe me, Belle, you did a great job of representing the Cianwood Gym! Top 16 really isn't bad for a Fighting Pokemon Gym - after all, only one of the four girls from that Water Pokemon Gym over in Kanto made it into Round Two and the one that did didn't make it into Round Three either." Belle's eyes start to water and she asks, "So you're not mad?" "A little..." Chuck rubs his rumbling stomach, "But that's only 'cuz I'm hungry since I was waiting for you to have dinner! So let's go into the Cafeteria and eat, Eat, EAT!" Chuck marches over towards the Pokemon Center's Cafeteria. Belle puts one of her hands on the side of her mouth and calls out, "I'll be right there, Master - I wanna see who made it into Round Three first!" She walks up to the Pokemon Center's front desk and looks up at the huge computer monitor on the wall behind it to see pictures of most of the Trainers who made it into Round Three above each of their names, but due to a glitch in the computer system, two of the pictures show up as M-shaped blocks of garbage and display "NULL" as a name: [ Robert ] vs. [ Becky ] [ Yolei ] vs. [ Aerie ] [ Trent ] vs. [ NULL ] [ NULL ] vs. [ Rudy ] Belle approaches one of two identical pink-haired nurses sitting behind the front desk, grabs her collar, and scowls as she shouts, "You're letting Trent battle in Round Three?! HOW COULD YOU?! He MURDERED the person that's been picked to battle Yolei!" "Now, now - don't be so judgmental!" Nurse Joy smiles at Belle in an attempt to calm her down by being positive, "Murderers are people too and they deserve the right to battle at tournaments, just like everyone else does! That's why I called up the Whirl Cup officials and persuaded them to let Trent battle in Round Three!" The other nurse, who's also named Joy, rolls her eyes at her sister's sentiments. Of all the relatives she has in the world, she had to be paired up with the only Nurse Joy who constantly lives up to her family name. She could've been paired up with the Nurse Joy from New Bark Town who lusts after a married man or the Nurse Joy from Violet City who's known for having quite a temper. Instead she gets paired up with one of the ditziest members of her family who's actually convinced the Whirl Cup officials to leave Aerie in the contest, despite that the girl hasn't been seen since she was shot, on the grounds that people shouldn't discriminate against people who have holes in their abdomens. Since Belle hasn't released her grip yet, the happy-go-lucky Nurse Joy continues, "Besides, Trent might've murdered people in the past but he didn't murder Aerie and Karen's just fine - she's already been released from the hospital!" "What do you mean he didn't murder Aerie?!" Belle pulls Nurse Joy up out of her seat and stares into her eyes as she says, "I heard that she got shot, fell into the Coliseum's pool, and hasn't been seen since." "Exactly!" Nurse Joy exclaims, a smile plastered on her face, "The Guards searched in the pool for her but couldn't find her! Since the gates that let the water in and out of the Coliseum are all closed, that means she was able to get out, which is why I believe she's alive!" "Or her corpse was dragged out by someone working with Trent." Belle sighs, sad about what happened to Aerie and frustrated by the fact that the person she's talking to isn't the least bit bothered by letting an alleged murderer and a person presumed dead battle in Round Three. Belle throws Nurse Joy back onto her seat and changes the subject, "What's the deal with the missin' pictures?" Nurse Joy, who's now adjusting her collar, shrugs, "Oh, I dunno. Sis is better with computers, ask her." The other Nurse Joy answers Belle's question without further prompting, "There's a problem with the Whirl Cup's computer system. I think when she was deleting trainers who lost in today's matches, Sis accidentally erased a couple of extra people from the system by accident." "Hey, I didn't ask to do the computer work!" The first Nurse Joy argues, "I mean, I was happy to do it! I'm always happy to help everyone, but you KNOW the only thing I know how to do on these computers is register Trainers, not remove them!" "Regardless..." The second Nurse Joy narrows her eyes at her sister before telling Belle, "A programmer's coming in tomorrow morning to fix the problem, but until then we're not sure who's battling Rudy and who's battling... ugh, Trent." Belle raises a single eyebrow, "Why don't you just flip a coin?" "That's a great..." Just as the bubbly Nurse Joy starts to agree with Belle's suggestion, the more technological Nurse Joy interrupts, "This computer uses a very complex randomization algorithm to determine how contestants are matched up! We can't just flip a coin. That's so... primitive! We'll just hold the first two matches in the morning, then when the programmer fixes the problem, we'll see who the computer selected to battle Rudy and... ugh, Trent in Round Three and the next two matches will be held in the afternoon. It's as simple as that." Belle notes, "A coin flip would be simpl-" "SILENCE!" The techie Nurse Joy fumes. "BELLE!" Chuck calls out from the Cafeteria, getting tired of waiting for his student. Hearing Chuck's voice, Belle waves to the two nurses and races into the Pokemon Center's Cafeteria to join him and her fellow Cianwood Gym students for dinner. -Belle (( NS: Whoever is making the Round Two Cappie vs. Jutta and Blizzard vs. Mamoru/Yuki matches, please post them as soon as possible. ))