Subject: Re: [PW!] It's My Battle And I'll Cry If I Want To... Date: Tue, 15 Jan 2002 00:12:53 -0800 From: "Tech Weaver - Biggest Dreamer" <nichirasu@hotmail.com> Organization: CompuServe Interactive Services Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon "Pipian" <pipian@pipian.com> wrote in message news:ImP%7.6610$Tl7.2272800942@newssvr30.news.prodigy.com... > > The Wigglytuff rammed the Miltank, and the Miltank rolled back... Over and > over... When it finally stopped, it fainted... > > "Hah! See? I told you I could beat you! Now fork over my Plain Badge!" > > Whitney sniffed. > > "Oh, what now?" > > "WAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!" > > "What a sore loser..." > "Yuki!" scolded Yolei. "What did you do to her?" "It's not my fault she's a big wuss," Yuki said. Yolei walked up to Whitney and put her hands on her shoulders. "Are you okay?" Yolei asked. "I-I'm fine," Whitney said with a sniff. "I always cry whenever I lose a match." "Every time?" replied Lynkeru skeptically. "Yeah, I find that hard to swallow," Indi the fairy added. "Ledi," the Ledian on Lynkeru's head agreed. "Are you up to another battle?" asked Yolei. "I'll go easy on you." "I can fight again," Whitney replied. She choked back some tears, then rapidly changed her expression to one of evil. "But I need your pity, 'cause I'm gonna go EXTRA hard on you!" "Huh?" "This ought to be good," Lynkeru said. She found a nearby tree and climbed up for a bird's-eye view. **************************************************************************** ********* "Granbull, Hyperbeam!" Whitney's Granbull held out its palms in front of it and began gathering energy. It suddenly unleashed a blast of chi energy at Blade Runner. Yolei 's Mareep was thrown off her feet and skidded across the arena. Blade Runner hopped to her feet and bounded towards her opponent. "Thundershock!" Yolei commanded. "Maaa-aaa!" Blade Runner confirmed. Her fleece fluffed up to twice its size with the build-up of electricity, then unleashed a bolt of lightning at the Granbull. The Granbull was singed to a crisp and toppled over. "Oh, no! Granbull!" Whitney exclaimed, almost sobbing. She returned her Granbull to its PokeBall and let loose a new one. "Go, Miltank!" "Mi-IIIILL!" the bovine Pokemon bellowed. "These things just keep getting more and more ridiculous," Lynkeru remarked from her perch in a tree inside the Goldenrod Gym. "Dian," said the Ledian clinging to the back of her head. "Blade Runner, Tackle attack!" "Miltank, Roll Out!" Miltank rolled up into a ball and the two livestock Pokemon barreled at each other. Blade Runner slammed head-first into Miltank and was promptly flattened by it. "D'oh!" Yolei grumbled. She got out a couple of PokeBalls. "Blade Runner, return! Go, Rink!" Upon materializing, the Quagsire turned to his trainer, bowed and said, "Sire." "Oh, er, yeah," Yolei said with a blink. "Rink, use Water Gun on that Miltank!" "Keep Rolling Out, Miltank!" Whitney urged. Rink spat out a powerful jet of water as Miltank rolled towards him. The Miltank was stopped in its tracks but continued rolling in place. A cloud of mist and dust was kicked up as she pushed against the Quagsire's attack. Rink's Water Gun eventually died down and Miltank slammed into him at almost double the speed she would've done otherwise. "Slam it, Rink!" Rink lashed out with his tail, knocking Miltank away like a major league baseball. Miltank splatted against wall, leaving an impact crater. Miltank eventually peeled off, unconscious. "Millllllll..." groaned Miltank. Whitney fell to her knees and cried. "I guess Yolei won," Lynkeru said. "Are you okay?" Yolei asked as Whitney approached. "I said I'm fine," Whitney said. "I always do this, remember? Here, take the Plainsbadges." "No, I couldn't..." Yolei started. "No, take them, you won," Whitney countered. "I don't deserve them..." "Yes you do." "But I feel so sorry about making you cry..." "Oh, please," Lynkeru said. "She's obviously faking it." "What!?" everyone else exclaimed. "You actually believe she's sincere?" Lynkeru scoffed. "Oh, come on! They' re Totodile tears!" "Each one of my tears is one-hundred percent sincere!" Whitney argued. "Yeah, right. Gym Leaders are supposed to represent the best their town can offer. They have to be, since every Ash Ketchum and Gary Oak wannabe has to go through them to get into the Pokemon League. Yolei told me that when we were hanging around Azalea Town, so we can assume that's correct, right?" "Yeah, I said that," Yolei admitted. "And that should be right." "So a gym's leader has to be the best in town," Lynkeru recapped. "And to be the best, you have to beat the rest. You have to prove yourself. That requires skill and training and experience. As you travel down this road, you'll have to expect to lose. A lot. Lose again and again until you get it right. Then once you've reached this local pinnacle, you have to continue to prove yourself against all challengers. And since people have to get through you to get into the League, you'd be expected to lose on a semi-regular basis. Now, you're going to go through all that and still cry whenever you lose?" "Yes!" Whitney's eyes were filling with tears yet again, but this time they were tears of anger. "I know it's hard to believe, but I still do! I have a soft heart!" "If you expect me to believe that, then you must have a soft head," Lynkeru countered. She swung her legs over the side of the branch she was on and then hung upside-down. "Well, why would she fake it?" Yolei asked. "I don't know," Lynkeru said. "Maybe she's trying to make an image for herself. Maybe she thinks guys like a girl just *sooo* caring that she cries whenever one of her Pokemon gets a boo-boo. Whatever the reason, I know she's faking. The blood of great thieves and pirates run through my veins. We Gerudo know a con job when we see it." Her face turning a deep red, Whitney gritted her teeth and said, "It's not a con job, it's the real thing." "Is it now?" Lynkeru said. "Then it's no wonder you lost. You're obviously unfit to be a trainer." "WHAT!?" Whitney screamed. "Maybe you've been extremely lucky in maintaining your position," Lynkeru mused. "Or perhaps you just inherited the role of Gym Leader. Or maybe mommy and daddy are filthy rich, and they got you real strong Pokemon or bribed your way to victory just so their precious baby girl could have a gym of her very own." "Uh, Lynkeru?" Indi said, noticing that her friend currently had her back to the Gym Leader and was unable to notice the steam rising from her ears. "Not now, Indi," Lynkeru said. Continuing from where her fairy friend had interrupted, Lynkeru added, "Obviously someone made a grievous error in judgement, thinking someone as emotionally fragile as you could handle to responsibility of owning Pokemon let alone represent a whole gym..." "Lynkeru!" Indi interrupted again. "Not now! Anyway, I don't think this is the job for you, Whitney. Maybe you should try something less stressful. Maybe a waitress, or maid, or hairdresser. If your so caring, there's always nursing. Of course, there's always being a housewife. It doesn't seem like a very popular position in this society, but at least..." "LYNKERU! RUN!" "Huh?" Lynkeru heard the sound of a PokeBall opening behind her and something very large popping into existence. Craning her neck around, she could see that Whitney had called upon some thing quite large and very bull-like. "Tauros!" the bull called. It pawed the ground and snorted. "Aw, crud!" Lynkeru exclaimed. "RIP HER APART, BINKY!!" Whitney screamed. Binky the Tauros immediately charged forward. Lynkeru hoisted herself onto her branch as Binky plowed straight through the tree. The tree toppled over and Lynkeru pulled herself out of the wreckage. "Whitney, what are you doing!?" Yolei demanded. "Binky was entrusted to me by a friend, since he's the mate of my Miltank," Whitney explained. "He's quite powerful. I couldn't've picked a better stud myself. I don't use him for official battles, but this is personal! Binky is going to make your friend pay for her insults!!" "That's crazy!" Yolei exclaimed. "Looks like Lynkeru pushed her off the deep-end," Yuki noted. Lynkeru barely dodged as Binky charged her again. "I don't think I can hit him with my swords," Lynkeru said. "And your Ledian got knocked out in the fall," Indi said. "She not my...OOF!" Binky head-butted Lynkeru, sending her into a wall. "Dang, that thing packs a punch!" Lynkeru observed. "It's coming back!" Indi warned. Lynkeru avoided the Tauros and ran, causing Binky to slam head-first into the wall. With more damage done to the wall than to the bull, Binky gave chase. "Can Lynkeru outrun it?" Yuki asked. "She'll probably tire out before he does," Whitney said. "He's a pretty high level." Lynkeru jumped over the fallen tree and ducked next to it. Binky leapt over her and skidded to a stop near the far wall. "Okay, I'll need a plan," Lynkeru said to herself. She got up and rummaged through her pouch. "Think, Lynkeru, think!" Lynkeru produced a Deku Nut and threw it into Binky's face as he approached. Blinded by the resulting flash, Binky knocked Lynkeru aside rather than trampling her and slammed into another wall. Undaunted, Binky charged at Lynkeru again. "Better plan, better plan..." Lynkeru urged herself. She pulled out the shiny Unown P. "Do you do anything!?" "No," P said. Lynkeru put Unown P back and got out Unown Y out. At the last second, Unown Y latched onto the ceiling and yanked Lynkeru out of harm's way. "You can't wait up there forever, Lynkeru," Whitney called up. "I just need to wait until he falls asleep," Lynkeru called back. "Oh, I don't think there'll be any waiting," Whitney disagreed. "Binky, Blizzard." "Blizzard?" The air around Binky grew frigid and ice particles began to form on and around him. Then the air turned into hurricane-force winds that were targeted directly at Lynkeru. The young Gerudo dropped before the icy winds could hit her with full force and hit the ground hard with both feet. She started to move away, but found one of her legs was encased in ice. "Oh, this can't be good," Lynkeru said. Binky slammed into her with full force and pinned her to the wall. Lynkeru tried to pry the Tauros off of her, but Binky just responded by applying more pressure. The force was practically bone-crushing and Lynkeru let out a scream of pain. **************************************************************************** ******* "Get 'im offa me!" a plant-liked creature said. A pudgey, yellow creature with a rocky back had apparently mistaken his head for a chair. "I can't control him, Dory," Lynkeru said. "Just apologize to Grianon already. Trying to force him off will only make him madder." "What?" Dory exclaimed. "OW! OW! Okay! I'm sorry! I'm sorry!" "Promise never to do it again?" Grianon asked. "Yes, yes!" Dory answered. "I promise! Now get offa me!" Grianon got off Dory and helped him up. "Your lucky I'm just a runt," Grianon said. "Any bigger and I would've crushed you for sure." "Yeah, yeah, thanks," Dory replied. "You still mad at me?" "I'll get over it," Grianon said. **************************************************************************** ******** Lynkeru must've passed out for a second. Binky was still trying to crush her. She couldn't remember at the moment if the dream had happened or was just fantasy, but now she knew what to do. "Whitney, I'm sorry," Lynkeru said. "Huh?" replied Whitney. "I shouldn't have insulted your skill or your honor," Lynkeru continued. "I was wrong to even bring it up. I hadn't considered your feelings and I'm really, really sorry. Can you forgive me?" "Oh, what am I doing?" Whitney asked herself. "Binky, return!" Binky disappeared in red light. Lynkeru landed on the floor. Whitney ran up and held her. "Ow," Lynkeru said. "I'm still sore there, and just about everywhere else." "I'm sorry," Whitney said, crying. "I can't believe I tried to kill you. I wouldn't've ever tried to hurt someone like that. Are you alright?" "I will be once you let go of me," Lynkeru replied. "Oops, sorry," Whitney said. She let go of Lynkeru and she fell over again. She helped Lynkeru to her feet. "Are you still mad at me?" Lynkeru asked. "A little, but I'll get over it," Whitney said. "Here, have a Plainsbadge as a token of my apology." "No thanks. I'd rather earn them in battle." "But you have. Just take it." "No, no. I couldn't..." "Take it before I rip your head off." "Okay." "Need any help getting to the Hospital?" "Nah, I can just use the Pokemon Center." "You're sure?" "Oh, yeah. Don't worry about it. Yuki, uh... Youngblood..." "Yolei," Yolei said. "Yeah, you too," Lynkeru said. "Let's go home." "You mean the Pokemon Center, right?" Yuki asked. "Close enough," Lynkeru replied. "So long, miss." Lynkeru collapsed on the floor and passed out. To be continued... -- Chet "Tech" Weaver's Revised Basic Sig Now with 75% less extraneous information! "If there are ninjas, and I'm pretty sure there will be, I want you to use your leek like a nunchaku and Swords Dance crazily in order to scare them away with your mad leek skills." -- Rob, "There's No Place Like Gym" "No ride is complete without a clown in an electric chair." -- My brother AIM: PanGatomon, Rorschach Mask, NemesisWolfHelm