Subject: Re: [PW!] One-Way Trip to Cianwood Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 10:08:30 GMT From: Rob <robfrompw@yahoo.com> Organization: AT&T Worldnet Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon "Chet Weaver Roasting On an Open Fire, Jack Frost Nipping At Your Toes..." wrote: > Once they got to the gym, they found it was closed. A note on the door > explained that the Gym Leader and his apprentices had left for the Whirl Cup at > the Whirl Islands. > > "Well, that's a bummer," Keaton said. > > "The Whirl Cup just ended," Harper said. "They should be back pretty soon." Harper, Kitsu, and Keaton don't have to wait very long for Chuck and his students to arrive at the Cianwood Gym. As a matter of fact, about five seconds after Harper made her observation, a male with a gruff voice is heard shouting in the distance, "Hup two-three-four! Hup two-three-four!" The chant is accompanied by the noise a pack of eight humans make as they march, which gets louder until Chuck, the Cianwood Gym Leader, and his seven students are standing outside the entrance to the Gym. Although clearly tired from his jog, the middle-aged Gym Leader manages to say despite his irregular breathing, "Great job, students! Or should I say great jog? Frankie, you should kick up your knees more when you march. Belle, take it from me - since you don't wear shoes, you gotta watch out for sharp rocks - I saw you limping a bit shortly after we left the ferry." "Uh, yeah - hi." Harper taps Chuck, "I'm guessing you're in charge of this here Gym. I'm here to challenge you for a Badge." Chuck turns around and answers the young woman, "Yeah, I'm Chuck, the Cianwood Gym Leader, but you're gonna have to hold your Horseas. I just got home and I haven't seen my wife or eaten her delicious cookin' in an entire WEEK! I wanna spend some time with her, so I won't be taking challenges 'til this afternoon. You're welcome to stay at the Gym for brunch, lunch, and afternoon snack if you wanna, though..." Just then, Chuck happens to look past Harper. The moment he sees Keaton, his eyes bulge and he walks over to the Minotauros to examine him closer, completely ignoring Keaton's were-Ninetales sister, "WHOA! You're literally built like a Tauros! I wish I had muscles like those. I wanna talk with you later about your secrets for stayin' in shape, sport, but now, I wanna talk to my wife about her secret recipe chicken strips!" He rips the note off the door to his Gym, slams his fist against the door three times, and shouts, "HONEY! I'M HOME!" "Mmm, chicken strips..." Belle leans on the crook she's holding and licks her lips. She also misses Chuck's wife's home-cooking, sick of all the mass-produced fast food she ate at the Scarlet City Pokemon Center's Cafeteria for the past six days. A smiling, pretty, red-haired woman throws open the door to the Gym before throwing herself in her husband's arms, embracing him. They hug and kiss for about a minute, making half of Chuck's male students sick. Belle just fantasizes about Travis as she watches the husband and wife express their love for each other, hoping she'll see the tall purple-haired young man again soon. When Chuck and his wife head into the Gym, Belle is quick to follow, as are the rest of Chuck's students. Kitsu, Keaton, and Harper follow next, figuring they might as well have breakfast before deciding what else to do. Belle is approaching the large table in the Dining Room, ready to dig in to the appetizers already set on the table, when she bumps into a red-haired nurse who's holding a clipboard. Belle sighs, "Aww, Nurse Wendy, what're you doin' here? Don't tell me I have another 'session' with you now. I just got here! Can't I take a load off for a while?" "I'm sorry, Sarah, but it's crucial we have a session now. You haven't spoken with me in an entire week." Nurse Wendy grabs Belle's hand and leads her away from the table where Kitsu, Keaton, Harper, and Chuck's other students are all taking their seats. Belle extends her crook towards the table, hoping to grab at least a piece of bread with the hook on the end of it, but it doesn't reach as she's dragged away from the food by Nurse Wendy into a small room that has two chairs in it. Nurse Wendy sits one one of the chairs, then Belle reluctantly sits down across from the nurse, crossing her arms. The blonde teenager begs, "Let's make this fast. I'm HUNGRY!" "If you cooperate, this session won't take more than five minutes." Nurse Wendy crosses her legs, pulls out a pen, flips to a new page on the notepad attached to her clipboard, and asks, "First of all, how was the Whirl Cup Competition?" "I lost." Belle sighs, "Next question." Nurse Wendy jots something down on her notepad, "How did losing make you feel, Sarah?" "My name's Belle," the girl says before answering, "And I'm okay with it. Next." "Really?" "Yes." "You weren't hurt?" "No." "Are you sure?" "I didn't hurt myself, I'm sure." "That's not what I asked. I meant to ask - did losing hurt your feelings?" "No." "Well, surely you must have felt something." "I felt... 'oh crap, I lost - now Chuck's gonna be ticked off', but he wasn't angry. Like I said, I'm okay with it." "Did these momentary feelings of disappointment trigger any memories of your childhood?" "Let's make this quick. I didn't remember anythin' about my past in the past week. Can I go eat now?" "Not yet. Perhaps you did remember something, but you just don't know you did." "I think I'd remember if I remembered." "Not necessarily. There were many people at the Whirl Cup. Did any of them recognize you?" "Yeah, two that I know of." "Who were they?" "One of them was this really cute guy who said he stayed over at my house one time. The other was some rude little girl with a ponytail - I didn't much like her and she ended up winnin' the Whirl Cup." "Why didn't you like her? Because she won the Competition?" "No, I didn't like her before then. It's just somethin' about her. She's got this mean attitude. For example, I was talkin' to Travis - that's the cute guy - and I actually got to hug him and she dragged him away from me, that little..." "So Travis and the girl know each other?" "Yeah." "Are they a couple?" "I don't know. I hope not, though. Travis deserves a lot better than some little jerk who just drags him places whenever she wants somethin'." "Did she hang out with Travis often during the past week?" "Oh yeah, she was always walkin' around with him, not lettin' me get close. Now that I think about it, she's probably the one who told him to not say hello to me when he sat near me at the Coliseum. I'm guessin' he was just coverin' for her when I asked him about it and he said he didn't wanna disturb me 'cuz I was into the matches." "What did you and Travis talk about before the girl pulled him away?" "Not much. He was tellin' me he met me in the Ilex Forest." "Do you happen to remember ever being in the Ilex Forest?" "What did I say before?! Don't you write this stuff down? I didn't remember anythin' about my past durin' the Whirl Cup!" "I'm sorry, Sarah..." "BELLE!" "You know I'm not going to call you that, so stop trying to get me to. If people call you by your real name, it might help you remember who you are. I already asked Chuck's wife to start doing it and I'm going to tell Chuck to start..." "But I DO know who I am - Belle, a Cianwood Gym Student. I don't think I wanna remember who I was." "What do you mean? Why wouldn't you want to remember?" "From what I gathered from the little Travis said, it seems I used to be cooped up in my farm a lot, not goin' anywhere - I didn't even leave to go to school! No wonder I was so pale when I woke up, and I still can't get a decent tan..." Belle stretches out one of her fair-skinned white arms and looks at it with contempt, "Even my talkin' Slowpoke seems to think I used to be a pushover. If I remember who I was, maybe I'll lose all my edge and become some kinda loser who'll be too scared of people to stay here. And I really like this Gym. You get what I'm sayin'? I just don't wanna learn all sorts of things here, like martial arts for example, then forget 'em one day when I remember who I am and cry all the way home to my mother." "Sarah, you are not someone else now that you don't remember your past. You are recreating your personality as you, Sarah, want it to be but were afraid to have it be before, probably due to some repressed concerns you've forgotten." Nurse Wendy explains, having done extra research on fugue states and amnesia cases while Belle was on Red Rock Isle, "But when you do remember your past, you won't forget all you've done so far and all you've learned. You'll just remember what happened in your life before you got buried under rocks near Mount Mortar - the repressed concerns will probably return as well, but it'll be clear to you that they were unfounded, having disproven them yourself. Think about this - you had to have left home to be near Mount Mortar in the first place. I doubt you'll go home crying when you remember your past." Nurse Wendy writes some final notes on her pad as Belle contemplates what she just said, then the nurse says, "I'm glad you voiced your concern to me, Sarah - it might've held you back if you hadn't. I'll see you again the day after tomorrow." "Hey, before you go..." Belle says when she sees Nurse Wendy stand up from her chair, "I want you to bring me the Sun Stone you're keepin' for me at the Hospital. I wanna evolve my Sunkern." Nurse Wendy replies, "I'll ask the doctor to see if it's okay. If it is, I'll bring it to our next session." "Why wouldn't it be okay?" Belle asks, puzzled. Nurse Wendy shrugs, "It's just a precautionary measure. I even had to get clearance to let you keep that crook. I hope you enjoy your brunch!" "Bye, Nurse Wendy... and thanks for hearin' me out." Belle waves to the nurse then heads back to the Dining Room to see that brunch has just been served and that her fellow students are already scarfing it down. She takes her seat in front of her plate at the table and drops her crook on the floor so that she can use both of her hands to devour the delicious food before her. -Belle