Subject: [PW!] New Bark, Old Tree Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2002 05:59:20 GMT From: Nuh@uh.dummy (Worry) Organization: RoadRunner - Triad Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon "You should have done this ages ago!" Nurse Joy stated as stern as Nurse Joy ever got. "Why?" Travis asked mildly accepting the newly registered pokegear. "I haven't completed in any sanctioned league events, nor have I tried for Gym badges. You don't have to be registered to train pokemon, just to compete in the Johto League." "Because, young man" Joy answered firmly, "The registration is more than just a competition tool, it also helps keep track of your progress, and helps your Professor, in the case Ivy, to keep an eye on how you are progressing. The Pokegear also serves as a way to contact you in case of emergency!" "Oh." Travis replied his voice still as mild as before, which seemed to aggravate the Pokemon Nurse even more. Becky shot Joy a sympathetic glance. Travis went on before the Nurse could lecture him more," Well, anyway, thanks for getting me set up for competition. Is Furbreon ready to check out yet?" Furbreon was Travis' newest pokemon. The Sentret, jet black with a yellow circle on its belly, was talked into joining Travis after the trainer had encountered it on the way to New Bark. Given his coloring, Travis suspected that he had been fathered by an Umbreon. He had named the pokemon based on that and its evolution. "Ah yes, your Sentret." Nurse Joy answered, her voice returning to it's gentile state upon talking of Pokemon. "He is indeed ready to release, but I have some exciting news to tell you about him!" "Oh?" Travis asked, showing interest for the first time since the Nurse had met him. "Oh yes!" Nurse joy replied. "As part of the exam I give all pokemon, I scan them for their stats. Your Sentret has some very anomalous stats. Quite unlike any Sentret I have ever seen!" Joy explained. "First of all, despite the fact that he is fairly young, his defensive stats are much higher than they should be. Furbreon will be quite the tank, especially after he evolves! But his speed is much slower than Sentrets normally display. Normally, pokemon get the majority of their deter values from their mothers, but your Sentret appears to have gotten his from his father. I did a comparison, and I can confirm your suspicion. His father was definitely an Umbreon." "Cool!" Travis stated. "What else did Furbreon inherit? Is he also part Dark like his dad?" "No." Joy answered. "Besides the one Dark type move, and the deter values, he retains his Normal type. He isn't immune to Psychic types, nor does he suffer the double vulnerability to bug type moves." "Oh, I see." Travis replied. "What else did you have to tell me?" "Well this is very exciting!" Joy replied. "Even more rare than his stats and coloring, Furbreon appears to have contracted the active state of Pokerus! It was very hard to detect, given his coloring, but it is there!" "You mean Furbreon has a disease and you call that exciting?" Travis asked incredulously. "No no, you don't understand!" Joy answered. "Pokerus isn't a disease. it is a parasitic life form that only effects pokemon. And unlike other parasites, it is actually a good thing! Most parasites feed off the host, leaving nothing in return. But the Pokerus gives the host pokemon the gift of more efficient learning! "You see" Nurse Joy explained further, "When a pokemon battles, it learns from the battles. If it is fighting a strong pokemon, then it may learn how to apply that strength in it's own battling. Thus it's attack stat will grow. When it is fighting an opponent with a great defense, it will learn how to apply that defense to its own battle style, therefore increasing it's own defensive stat. Through a process not known as of yet, the Pokerus leaves the host pokemon better able to apply those lessons to itself. the active form of Pokerus does feed off the host, but it only stays active about a day, as long as the pokemon isn't in an energy form inside a computer storage system. Being that beneficial, it is desirable. In fact, I would pass the virus on to your other pokemon as well, as soon as possible, so that all of them might benefit!" * * * Elsewhere in New Bark, Becky, who wasn't interested in joining Travis while he was getting registered, was exploring the small town. She had been by to see Professor Elm's lab, but wasn't allowed inside as the Professor was in Goldenrod at the time. She had gone to see the man made waterway that connected Johto to Kanto, though not directly. She resisted the urge to join some other trainers fishing there, despite the allure of catching a possible rare water type pokemon there. The Black Belts wandering eventually took her to a small schoolhouse. Outside, in a small playground, she could see some younger kids playing. She smiled to herself and wandered over to see the six and seven year olds at play. She was still a few yards away from the fence when she noticed something was odd. Most playgrounds at recess time were loud places, but no sound came from this one. Getting closer, Becky noticed that there was no activity. The playground was full of kids, but not one was moving. She gasped in shock as she saw some details. Here a boy was on the slide, halfway down. but he was sitting perfectly still, and gravity had no effect on him. There two children on the swings, on at the apex of the forward swing, the other with his legs extended having started his forward swing from far back, but neither swing was in motion. Another girl saw skipping rope, but the rope was frozen right in front of the girl's feet, which were two inches above the ground. The entire playground seemed frozen in time! Putting her hands on the chain link fence, Becky wondered aloud, "What the heck is going on here? A voice at her knee caused her to jump when it answered "Unknown." Becky looked down and met the stare of the strangest creature she had ever seen. The eye that was looking back at her was framed by a circle, from that circle, three tines extended upward, forming a somewhat lopsided crown. As her gaze fell upon the strange pokemon, a faint shimmer, with half seen sparkles seemed to surround it, but it was gone before Becky could identify the effect. Becky realized that this was an Unknown. Suddenly the time frozen playground made sense. Becky remembered Drake and Sarah telling her about an Unknown that froze her and Travis in the middle of taking care of the green haired biker girl the day before. "Did you do this?" Becky asked the pokemon "Unknown." "I better call for help." Becky said to herself pulling her pokegear out of her pack, accidentally pulling a spare pokeball out with it Double You didn't know what the device was that Becky had pulled out of her pack, but her recognized the words "call for help" Double You had frozen the playground after a few of the kids were poking and pulling at it. Now that he was on the other side of the fence, he decided to unfreeze the playground and freeze the girl that was "calling for help" Both Becky and Double you were startled as the noise from the suddenly unfrozen playground assaulted them. Several things happened all at once. The boy on the slide screeched as he completed the trip to the ground. The two swings swung, with the children on it calling out to one another as the passed each other, the girl with the rope completed her jump. Becky, startled, lost her grip on both the pokegear and spare pokeball. The pokegear clattered as it hit the concrete. The pokeball bounced against a rock and shot out at a ninety degree angle, hitting Double You in the eye, opening up, and sucking the pokemon in before it had a chance to freeze the scene. The pokeball fell to the ground, wobbling a few times before coming to a rest with a loud ding proclaiming another successful pokemon capture. A few yards away, an ancient Suddowoodo disguised as a dogwood who had thought it had seen everything gave itself away laughing at what it had just witnessed.... TBC? Worry's first SIG sig file ------------------------------------------------------------------ *"It takes a Worried man to sing a Worried song..." Kingston Trio* *And the award for the funniest line in a cartoon goes to Superman who remarked "Don't look at me, I just catch 'em!" after stopping a crane thrown by Bizzaro from crushing a wedding party.* Proud owner of 300 fake code points