Subject: [PW!] Friends and Foe Date: Thu, 04 Apr 2002 22:49:01 GMT From: Rob <robfrompw@yahoo.com> Organization: AT&T Worldnet Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon So much has happened to Sarah in such a short amount of time - the attack on her uncle, the reappearance of Travis and Becky, having left the farm to resume her Pokemon Journey, and the meeting with Mimic - that she feels like she's just being tugged from one place to another without contemplating her actions. The shepherdess and her Flaaffy quietly follow Mimic, Drake, Travis, and Becky, their newest traveling partners, as they head to the Violet City Pokemart. Sarah doesn't need to purchase anything at the Pokemart, especially since she knows that those places sell unnatural healing potions, but she's too timid to say anything about this. Mimic, being most in tune with Sarah's feelings having traveled with her for quite a while before splitting up with her, Transforms into a copy of Sarah's Flaaffy so that he'll be less intimidating, then heads over to Sarah's side, and asks, "Something wrong?" "...n-not r-really..." Sarah stutters, caught by surprise since she's looking straight down at the ground and didn't see Mimic approach her, then says, "Actually, things are lookin' up! I'm travelin' with f-friends who don't s-swear, I haven't seen any of those w-weird Unown for m-months, no... nobody's picked a f-fight with us, and most importantly... I haven't run into that mean green-haired girl that m-makes fun of me. What could possibly go wrong?" Mimic sweatdrops and says, "Sarah need learn not ask question just asked." "W-why's that?" Sarah wonders out loud. Mimic explains, "Mimic find in this universe, question lead to wrong-going." The moment Mimic says this, a green-haired teenage girl dressed in black leather riding a motorcycle with her Quagsire, who's sitting in front of her, drives into the area. She parks her bike right in front of the entrance to the Violet City Pokemart and she and her Quagsire hop off of it. Three shiny Unown - a C-shaped one, a U-shaped one, and an F-shaped one - circle the girl's head. She sees Sarah standing towards the back of the group whose path her motorcycle's blocking, so she puts one hand on her hip, "I'm Roxie, an acquaintance of Sarah's. Move aside, dorks - it's been a while since I've had the pleasure of beating her Pokemon up." "Crap!" Drake frowns, "You have THREE shiny Unown? I've only collected two. You weren't even at the Ruins of Alph when they were released!" "Roxie, huh?" Travis calmly says, "My name's Travis and you'd better leave Sarah alone. I can sense you're not her friend." Becky strikes a fighting pose and says, "No, Travis, if it's a fight she wants, it's a fight she'll get - Pokemon or no Pokemon." "See?" Mimic asks the rhetorical question, then joins Barbie, Sarah's Flaaffy, who's hopped in front of Sarah to protect her. Sarah is speechless, but she starts crying, both tears of sadness because her mean rival wants to battle her and tears of joy since her friends are defending her. Roxie isn't the least bit intimidated by Travis and Becky, since the two kids are younger than her and thus she doesn't see them as a threat. She addresses Drake the Dragonite, "Yeah, I've got three shiny Unown. I'm gonna have more soon, too. I heard there was a local news story a few months ago in Violet City about three Unown taking over the Pokemon Center, which is why I came over here in the first place. I'm hoping I'll find the K-shaped shiny Unown to add to my collection." "That's not going to happen." Drake reaches into his leather bag and rummages around inside it, waking up Memuyo the Meowth who's been sleeping in his bag all morning long, and finally produces one of the two Pokeballs he received in Cerulean City, "Because I've got the shiny K-shaped Unown right here." Roxie crosses her arms, "I don't believe you. Let's see it." Seeing that Drake's about to hit the button on his Pokeball with one of his claws to release Kay, his shiny Unown, and noticing that Roxie's three shiny Unown have lined up before her - Eff to the left of her, You right in front of her, and Sea to the right of her - Sarah is afraid that Kay is going to join its comrades upon being released, so she shouts "NOOOOOOOOOOOO," races past the Flaaffy protecting her to the front of the group, and snatches Drake's Pokeball out of his hand. "If you think I need to see it to steal it Sarah, you're wrong." Without uncrossing her arms, Roxie says, "Shaft, Earthquake. Unown, freeze them when they're down." "Keeyah!" Becky shouts and she charges at Roxie to pummel her, now that she knows she's a thief, when the ground beneath her feet begins to shake, courtesy of an Earthquake attack issued by Roxie's Quagsire, knocking her off balance. In fact, everyone except Roxie, who's standing behind her Quagsire, topples to the ground due to the Earthquake! Roxie's F-shaped Unown flies over to where Mimic and Barbie have fallen and suspends their animation and her C-shaped Unown flies over to where Drake, Travis, and Becky have fallen, freezing them in time and space. Finally, the U-shaped Unown flies over to Sarah... ...and time appears to slow down before Sarah's eyes as the shiny U-shaped Unown floats towards her. She remembers how bitter You was when she met You on Route 36, and this leads her to wonder why You wasn't more friendly. The word "friend" reminds her of her friends - first Mimic, then Bob Raiser, and following that train of thought, she recalls that Bob Raiser gave her a pair of Apricorn Pokeballs called Friend Balls one time, saying Pokemon would befriend her faster if she caught them with the special Pokeballs. Figuring that Roxie may have neglected to actually catch You with a Pokeball when she met up with You since You actually follows her willingly, Sarah reaches into her satchel, grabs one of her Friend Balls, throws it at You, and closes her eyes. The moment the ground stops shaking, Sarah opens her eyes. She looks around to see a shiny C-shaped Unown floating over a frozen Drake, Travis, and Becky, a shiny F-shaped Unown floating over a frozen Mimic and Barbie, and a Friend Ball wobbling around on the ground, equidistant from Roxie and herself. The second the Friend Ball stops wobbling and announces "ding!", Sarah leaps up and runs towards it at the same time Roxie dashes to grab it. It's a close race, but since Sarah's exercised on her farm while Roxie depends on her motorcycle to get around, Sarah snatches it up off the ground seconds before Roxie lunges to grab it. "Give it back! That's mine!" Roxie complains, pauses to think, then shakes her head in disgust, "You rotten thief. I thought you were a goody-two-sandals, but you're a dirty criminal. You might as well become a member of Team Rocket. In fact, I should go report you! I hear the Violet City Police Station is full of officer Jennys and they'll all be after you once I file my report unless you give me that Pokeball." Sarah takes a few steps back, scared and about to start sobbing, but seeing her friends frozen by the F-shaped and C-shaped Unown, the friends who defended her earlier, she suddenly gets a rush of adrenaline and shakes her head, "You didn't catch the shiny Unown, so it wasn't yours! I doubt any of these Unown are yours! Let's see, shall we?" Sarah produces the other Friend Ball that Bob Raiser gave her and hurls it at the C-shaped Unown floating over Drake, Travis, and Becky. The shiny Unown is sucked into the Friend Ball and while it wobbles, Sarah says, "You're the criminal, Roxie, and I'll report you to the Police unless you leave us alone!" When she hears Sarah's second Friend Ball ding, Roxie becomes concerned that Sarah's going to capture the F-shaped Unown as well, so she produces one of the Fast Balls she stole from Kurt from her pocket, enlarges it, and hurls it at Eff, who gets pulled into it. Roxie says, "I'll let you keep those Unown, bumpkin, because they're worthless. The F's the one that has the ability to Find other shiny Unown for me - and once I get a big enough collection, I'll sell them as a lot on E-Bayleef and buy myself a state of the art motorcycle." Hearing yet another ding, Roxie picks up her Fast Ball as Shaft mounts her motorcycle, then Roxie hops onto her bike as well. She revs up the motor for a moment, then drives eastward, leaving Sarah coughing in a cloud of thick smoke, disgusted by the pollution. Sarah walks over to Travis and decides to wake him up by shaking him out of his state of suspended animation. However, when she puts her hands on his shoulders, she finds that he's incredibly stiff. She frowns, then gets an idea. She picks up the Friend Ball containing the C-shaped Unown that froze Travis, Drake, and Becky, releases the Pokemon, and asks, "Excuse me - c-could you please unfreeze these th-three?" Sea, happy to oblige the girl who gave it such a marvelous home in her Friend Ball, immediately unfreezes the trio it froze. Becky kicks her leg as she would have were Roxie in front of her, but she ends up kicking Drake's tail instead. Drake frowns and turns around to punch his attacker, until he sees that Becky's the one responsible, and he lowers his fist. Travis chuckles a little, then looks around and asks, "What happened, Sarah? Where's Roxie?" When Travis looks at Sarah in the eyes, she blushes and looks down before explaining, "Roxie had the C Unown f-freeze you three. She drove off after I captured the U and C Unown with my Friend Balls. I asked the C Unown to unfreeze you, but I think we're gonna have to w-wait for Mimic and Barbie to thaw naturally since Roxie ran away with the F Unown that froze them... unless..." Sarah looks at the C-shaped Unown, "Can you unfreeze the two Flaafffy?" When Sea looks down sadly and replies, "No," Sarah says, "Then we're gonna have to carry them. I-I'm not strong enough to carry Barbie ever since she e-evolved, so..." "I can carry her for you." Travis offers with a smile, "All the way to New Bark if necessary!" Sarah takes a deep breath and still on an adrenaline rush, she speaks her mind, "I know you're goin' to New Bark, Travis... but I wanna head to a nice trainin' spot I found near Ecruteak. I'm sure we'll meet up again sometime, but I don't wanna walk all the way to New Bark if I don't have anythin' to do over there. I was hopin'..." She swallows back saliva and addresses the large Dragonite who's just stood up and is looming over her, "Could you c-carry Mimic an' Barbie to Ecruteak for m-me, Drake? If you do that and promise not to s-swear around me l-like you did earlier, then I'll g-give you the shiny Unown I caught, s-since you collect 'em." -Sarah