Subject: [PW!] Memory's Tricks Date: 07 Nov 2002 05:27:50 GMT From: jsolano199@aol.comlink (Jose L. Solano) Organization: AOL http://www.aol.com Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Trent sat near a lake surrounded by trees outside of Goldenrod sometime in the late afternoon. As always during the daytime, he wore a pair of sunglasses, both to protect his overly sensitive eyes and to hide their strange appearance. He had all of his Pokéballs next to him and it had been a while since he had checked how many he actually had. He released them all to update his mental list. "An Onix, a Rhydon, a Graveler... Vertigo?" Vertigo the Exeggutor stomped around madly, then fell head-first into the lake, but at least one head remained over the surface. Trent didn't bother to help it. "What? An Abra and a Skarmory?" "Slash sandslash," Ashura said. "Kurt and Warren? Oh yeah, I captured them when we met up again. I completely forgot about them." Then Trent happened upon his newest Pokémon, a tiny Kabuto. It screamed happily and clung to his arm. "What the hell?! Get off! GET OFF!!" He pried it off and threw it aside. Trent recalled his Pokémon, except for Ashura and Kabuto, who was in the hands of a five-year-old boy. "You want it? You can have it, kid." "No, that's okay. I don't need a Kabuto. I see you're a Pokémon trainer." "You could say that." "My name's Nick. How about a battle?" Pokewars!: Trent Retwin "Memory's Tricks" Jose L. Solano "Okay, kid, but I can tell you right now you're going to lose. One Pokémon each. Sound good?" "Yeah," Nick said. "Go! Opee!" A tiny Wooper appeared, with a wide smile on his face. Trent motioned for Ashura to step forward and face his small opponent. "You have to announce your Pokémon." "Says who?" "Says me, you jerk." Trent was a little surprised at the kid's temper. Nick almost reminded Trent of himself. "Alright, alright. Go! Ashura!" Ashura posed dramatically. "Rollout." Ashura rolled into Opee and knocked him out with one hit. Nick recalled the Wooper. "I told you you'd lose." "Yeah, but it was worth a shot. What's your name?" "I'm Trent." "Trent? That's a good name. My dad's name was Trent." "Well, Trent's my middle name. My first name is Ian. I hate it." "Yeah, Ian's a stupid name." Trent sat down again. Nick sat down next to him. "How long have you been training that Sandslash?" "I dunno, about fifteen years? He's a pretty old Sandslash." "He's in good shape." "Yeah, I don't let him loaf around too much," Trent boasted. Ashura rolled his eyes, knowing that he only looked so young because of his recent re-evolution. "That Wooper of yours could use some better training." "I can't train too much," Nick admitted. "I'm only five, you know?" "What kind of crappy excuse is that, kid? I didn't get my trainer's license until I was 20," Trent admitted, though he had relied on what Ashura had told him, and not what he actually remembered. "I've been training Ashura since I was ten. You want to catch up to me, don't you?" "Well, maybe not you. There's better trainers out there," Nick said. The kid was growing on Trent. They continued to discuss their training techniques, mixed in with sarcasm and insults, well into the evening. Nick explained to Trent that he didn't want to become a professional trainer, but just wanted to learn how to use Pokémon to do other things. This brought a slightly devious smile to Trent's face. "Kid, I got a little secret to tell you. Wanna know what my job is?" "School janitor?" "Bounty hunter." "What's that?" Nick was, of course, only five. "Well, a bounty hunter does just about anything for the right amount of money. Mostly bad jobs nobody else wants to do. Prisoner breaks out of jail, I can get good money for turning him in. Someone's in your way, give me enough money and I'll get rid of him for you." "Whoa, you kill people for money?" "Sometimes." "That is SO cool!" Nick yelled. "Hey, you think you could kill my uncle for me?" "Heh, how much you got?" Trent said, deciding to play along. "Ten bucks. Take it or leave it." "I'll think about it." Trent said with a smirk. "Not that I care, but where are your parents?" "My mom's opening some sort of restaurant, so she's doing some stuff there." "Business. That's boring. Your dad?" "My dad died about the time I was born," Nick said, with only a slight bit of sadness in his tone. "I never really got to know him. Mom keeps changing the story on how he died, but she doesn't think I notice. Sometimes he died in a car accident, sometimes he died from food poisoning, and this one time he died from the flu." "You're mom's a bitch," Trent said. "I know. I never met dad, so I don't care too much. He was probably a jerk, anyway." "Good attitude. I never met my dad either. Now that I think about it, I never met my mom, either. Ah well. Once you get to my age, that stuff doesn't matter. In twenty years, you won't be asking your mom for anything." There was a brief silence. "So tell me about your uncle." "He's an idiot. That's all you need to know," Nick said. "Too many of those in the world. Someone has to get rid of them. I'd do it myself, but nobody's willing to pay for it, and I'm too lazy to do anything for free." "You think I could be a bounty hunter someday?" "No," Trent said. "You look like you'd make a good bus driver." They both laughed, then remained silent for a few minutes. They watched as Ashura slammed his claw into a tree, then caught a Weedle in his mouth as it fell. He quickly grabbed the stinger between two of his "fingers" and pulled it off, then swallowed the Weedle whole. "That's pretty gross," Nick said. "You should see him gut a Pikachu. If Pika-meat didn't taste so good, it'd make me lose my appetite." "Too bad there aren't any around here. I'd like to see that. I can't stand those stupid things." "Neither can I!" Trent said, amazed at what they had in common. "They've got such annoying voices!" "And they have stupid faces!" "And they're all over the media!" "And they're yellow! I HATE yellow!" They both had a good laugh. Just as they were finishing, a female voice from the woods called Nick's name. "Nick! Nick, honey, it's time to go!" "Be right there, mom!" Nick yelled back. "I gotta go. The bitch is calling." "Better run before she whips you." "I guess I'll see you later then, Trent." "I'd rather not see you again, kid." They both laughed. Nick waved as he ran into the woods. Trent decided that he'd get moving, too. Night was falling, and he would be able to move around more freely again. He walked in the opposite direction, disappearing behind the trees, with Ashura close behind. Ashura knew what had happened, and who Nick was. He decided that it was best kept a secret. Jose L. Solano ------------------------------- A devious, degenerate defender of the devil ------------------------------- The Apple of Enlightenment