From: Chet Weaver - Burn Up and Go! (nichirasu@hotmail.com) Subject: [PW] Bad Mojo Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2003-11-21 00:13:44 PST Perhaps someone didn't notice the mass of fire and ice that crashed to Earth just within Violet Town city limits. The impact didn't exactly register on the richter scale, but it was enough to draw people in the general vicinity around the smouldering crater. None of them quite new just what to expect when this sort of thing happened, so they weren't prepared to the silhouette of a humanoid figure stand up in the smoke. This figure was joined by the shadow of a large, powerful canine. "Who's that Pokemon?" someone in the crowd asked. "It's an Arcanine!" someone else replied. The smoke cleared a little, revealing a beaten, singed, and dazed young man wearing a Marowak skull as a helmet and his even more beaten but equally dazed Arcanine, who were soon joined by relatively unscathed and not particularly dazed Starmie carrying a video camera. The young man, breathing heavily, staggered forward. He looked around with unfocused eyes, not really noticing the crowd he was examining. He unsteadily turned back to the still-smoking crater and took a deep breath. "YEAH!" Smasher shouted. "Now THAT'S X-treme Pokemon Trainin' baby! AOW!" "I am never, EVER, doing a Flame Wheel/Body Slam combo off a teetering ice bridge of death while being blasted by a point-blank Blizzard attack ever again!" Rush said. "That was just going too damn far!" "Dude!" Smasher said, turning back to his "Legendary" Pokemon. "The Meteor Buster Slam is THE showstopper! It's gotta win us the grand prize on The World's Most Extreme Reality Videos!" "I applaud your ingenuity," Pryce said as his Piloswine followed him out of the crater. "But that move was reckless and irresponsible. We're lucky to be alive." "Yeah, ain't it cool?" Smasher replied. Upon seeing the Piloswine, Rush shreiked. "Why. Won't. You. Just. Die?" "Dude, breath," Smasher said. "But I have to agree that is one killer tank of a Pokemon you have there. It took all our best hits and its still walkin' straight. It should totally, like, be a steaming mud puddle by now." "I'll take that as a compliment," Pryce smirked. "So, you ready to give up yet?" "Nuh, uh," Smasher answered. "We're just gettin' started." "Yeah," Rush conferred. "Ain't no way we gonna lose to this pile of swine, vato!" "Good, because I'm going to..." Pryce's watch beeped. He looked at it and immediately went into panic mode. "Karp! I'm late! WellIclearlycan'tbeatyousoI'mconcedingthematchyouwintheGlacierBadgegottagoseeya! " With that, Pryce and his Piloswine ran off to the Gym Leader Conferrence, but not before tossing the Glacier Badge to the challenger. Smasher caught it and held it up to Shuriken's camera. "Yeah!" Smasher cheered. "Badges a-gogo, baby!" That, of course, was yesterday. The dawn of a new day saw a certain trainer going out for some early Pokemon training. This, of course, wasn't Smasher. He didn't get up until about nine o'clock to the urgent sound of Nurse Joy's wake up call. Other than rousing him from his sleep, this wasn't of much consequence to Smasher, either. He did get up to see what was going on. Nurse Joy explained herself feverishly to the trainer she was trying to awaken before the two of them dashed off to the lobby on what Smasher could only assume was urgent business. Smasher decidely took a quick nap before continuing about his own business. Later, in the lobby, met a rather peculiar fellow. This fellow's peculiarity was so peculiar that he barely noticed the mysterious figure that soon approached him. After sorting out the deal with the peculiar fellow and the mysterious figure, not to mention the curious chap who just happened to appear to further complicate things by introducing them to an odd person of questionable personage, Smasher found himself conversing with some guy in a non-descript hat and coat. "You're not gonna do anything peculiar, mysterious, curious or oddly questionable, are you?" Smasher asked. The guy decided to ignore the question. "Mr. Samson," the guy began, decidedly using Smasher's family name. "I represent an organization who is quite interested in obtaining a certain item that you may or may not have in your possession." "Wait, you're not from Team Rocket, are you?" Smasher inquired. "Because you have to tell me if you're a Rocket. Or is that police officers?" "We're not a criminal or law enforcement organization, Mr. Samson," was the answer. "We are dedicated to the betterment of Pokemon and mankind." Something clicked in the back of Smasher's mind. There was something up with this man's aura, and Shuriken was picking up on it as well. The man believed in what he just said, but he could tell something was karmically off. "Go on," Smasher replied. "We're looking for a sort of crystalline whistle that we think you may have found while exploring Mt. Moon in the Kanto region." Smasher remembered going to Mt. Moon early on in his first Pokemon journey. A chase with a Clefairy led him into a pit where he was attacked by a black Onix. If that Clefairy hadn't Metronomed a Dig attack, he might not have lived to recall the tale. "Lots of trainers go to Mt. Moon," Smasher said. "What makes you think I have this whistle?" "Let's just say we've put a great deal of research into this. We're willing to offer a very hefty sum in exchange for the whistle." "How hefty?" The man took out a notepad, wrote down a number, and handed the slip of paper to Smasher. In a breif moment of contact, Smasher's sixth sense kicked in hard. The sixth sense he earned as a result of combining his training and talents at skateboarding, Pokemon training, and spirit channeling blocked his view of the monetary sum presented to him, instead showing him a dire warning. Smasher blinked and saw a rather generous-looking number. "This better not be your phone number," Smasher said. "I ain't into that." "I assure you that is no phone number." Smasher glanced at Shuriken. A breif mental exchange later and they decided to deny everything. "That's quite tempting," Smasher said, handing the paper back. "Too bad I never even heard of this crystal whistle of yours. Sorry, man." The man glowered at Smasher and said, "Perhaps you could be persuaded to help us find this whistle?" "I don't think so," Smasher said. "I've got a lot of training to do if I want to make it in the Silver Conference. I'm going to be real busy until then." As Smasher began to leave, the man grabbed him by the arm. "You may want to reconsider our offer, Mr. Samson," the man said. "If you're holding out on us, you'll find that you have much larger concerns than the Silver Conference." Smasher shook the man off and left the Pokemon Center. He couldn't stand being in there for much longer. The air in the Center seemed to grow stale rather quickly. Smasher could tell this wasn't going to be the last he would hear from this "organization," and far more would be on the line than even he may be willing to risk. To be continued...? -- AIM: PanGatomon MSN/E-mail: Nichirasu@hotmail.com Yahoo! Messenger: tech_weaver ICQ: 122744531 Webcomic: http://desperadocoyote.keenspace.com My Adventure Quest character: http://www.battleon.com/aq-chardetail.asp?temp=131213 You can play Adventure Quest at http://www.battleon.com