From: Bandraptor (bandraptor@yahoo.com) Subject: Re: [PW!][SC][R2M2] Dude, Where's My Larvitar? Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2003-12-15 15:30:17 PST Tech Weaver wrote: > Energy pulsed from Shuriken's gem and gathered in spheres at the end of his > legs. When the spheres reached capacity, the all flew towards one vector. Set > teleported away before the blasts could strike him. Unfortunately for Shuriken, > Set was originally a few inches away from him when this occured. The explosion > from the balls colliding knocked him into one of the walls around the field. > > "Starmie is out of bounds," the referee said. "Natu is the winner!" Pleased with his victory, Set hops back onto the stolen skateboard, and proceeds to take a victory lap around the field. He lets out a series of gleeful chirps, "Natooo! Natooo! <All shalt kneel before me, or face my wrath!>" Smasher runs over to his fallen Starmie, and crouches down in front of him, shaking the starfish gently to see if he's okay. Shuriken's upper body is swaying dizzily, but he manages to pull himself up into a sitting position; and he stretches two of his arms out towards the field, reaching for his skateboard. "Don't worry, buddy," Smasher reassures him, "we'll get it back. Just chill out, and get some rest for now." Smasher returns to his position at the Red Trainer's end of the field, a slight frown on his face. It's still early in the match, and with one Pokemon disqualified, and another one disarmed, he's beginning to feel a little nervous. He selects a Pokeball from his belt, and throws it out onto the field, "I should've gone with you from the start. It's time to get serious--go, Pikat-shoo!" When Pikat-shoo the Pikachu materializes on the ice, he clicks his feet together, and salutes Smasher, to let his Trainer know that he's ready to accept orders. Smasher points to Set, who is happily skating up and down the glacial hills that spot the field, oblivious to everything else that's happening in the stadium. "Pikat-shoo, let's show that thief what happens when you steal from a Trainer who owns a Pikachu. Thunderbolt it, and send it flying!" "Pi! Ka pi!" Pikat-shoo shouts obediently. He salutes again, before dropping to all fours, and charging towards Set in a full run. "Pikachu has opened with Agility!" The commentator narrates, "And Natu seems to have lost interest in this battle altogether! Could this be a diversionary tactic on Tsunade's part, or has she simply lost control of her Pokemon?" Trying to keep up appearances, Nori gives her Natu a command, "Set, Psychic!" Set slams on the brakes as he turns to acknowledge his Trainer--which is a lucky move, since it prevents him from skating into the path of Pikat-shoo's Thunderbolt attack. The freshly released electricity fizzles out of sight mere inches away from the front wheels of Shuriken's skateboard, causing Set's feathers to stand on end, but not doing any damage. "ChuUuUuUuUUUUUu!" Pikat-shoo releases the last few volts of his 100,000 volt electrical attack, and surveys the field to see if his target has fainted. "NATU!" Set Teleports in front of him, a furious expression on his face. "Natu, natu, natu, natu, natoooooo!!!!!" He picks up the skateboard with psychokinesis, and begins to beat Pikat-shoo over the head with it! Through the first three or four hits, Pikat-shoo is too surprised to make a move, but after that he recovers. As Set brings the board down for the sixth time, the Pikachu releases a second Thunderbolt attack, which arcs through the metal framework of the skateboard to collide with the Natu at point blank range. Yellow bolts of electricity dance across the ice, and when the glare from the technique dies down, it becomes apparent who is conscious and who is not. The referee raises his red flag, "Natu is unable to battle! Pikachu is the winner!" "No surprises here, folks," the announcer comments, "Natu's Psychic abilities are potent, but like all Flying-types, it's weak to Electricity. Will Tsunade's third Pokemon be capable of dealing with Smasher's Electric Mouse?" Nori recalls Set into his Heavy Ball with a frown, dismayed because the only member of her team who knows Earthquake is currently incommunicado. "Maybe I should've left Magby behind to guard that Larvitar, instead of Rubix..." She detaches the Delibird's Premiere Ball from her belt, and rolls it around in her hand with some trepidation, "Well, there's nothing I can do about it now." Nori throws the ball out onto the field, "Magby, I choose you!" "Deli!" A red and white bird with black rings around her eyes materializes in the air above the Ice Field, and gracefully touches down on its surface, gliding to a stop in front of Pikat-shoo. Magby smiles pleasantly, and proffers her right wing to greet her opponent, but Pikat-shoo believes she is being duplicitous, and he turns down her offer of friendship with a somber frown. "Tsunade has sent out a Delibird!" The announcer broadcasts. This earns some scattered cheers from audience members who are fans of the rarely seen Flying-type, though for the most part, their response is drowned out by the cries of the stadium's Pikachu fans, who are looking forward to seeing a slaughter. Smasher simply blinks. He murmurs to himself, "She did say 'Magby,' didn't she? She can't even keep her Pokemon straight. How did somebody like that manage to steal Big Time?" In a louder voice, he addresses Pikat-shoo, "Do I even need to say it? Use Thunderbolt!" "ChuUuUuUuUUUuUuU!!!!" One Thunderbolt later, Magby falls smoking to the ground. "Delibird is unable to battle." The referee raises his red flag again, "Pikachu is the winner." "A single Thunderbolt attack is enough to take care of Tsunade's third Pokemon!" The stadium announcer proclaims, to the delight of the Pikachu lovers, "Some of our audience members may have blinked, so let's get an instant replay of that fight up on the Jumbotron!" "All right!" Smasher is finally beginning to feel that the match is going his way again. "That's three down, one to go! Let's bring this thing home, Pikat!" Smasher keeps his eyes glued to the field, as Nori recalls her Delibird, and throws out her fourth Pokeball. As Cerberus the Dodrio materializes above the ice, Smasher issues his command, "Pikat-shoo, Thunderbolt!" Pikat-shoo fires a Thunderbolt upwards and forwards, hitting the bird while it's still in the air. Cerberus contorts its body in pain, unable to move, suspended in the sky by the force of the attack. After a long ten seconds, Pikat-shoo exhausts his supply of electricity, and ceases the attack, certain that the damage he's done will be sufficient enough to render the Flying-type unconscious. STOMP. A heavy, clawed foot lands on top of the Pikachu's back, powered by the force of its fall from the sky. The effect is quite violent, and Pikat-shoo lets out a choked wheeze as his body is crushed against the ice. Cerberus doesn't respond to the Pikachu's feeble attempts to free itself, but continues to put pressure on the mouse's back bone, moving its foot in a circular motion as it grinds the Pokemon further into the ground. When Pikat-shoo has gone a full thirty seconds without moving, the referee raises his green flag. "Pikachu is unable to battle. Dodrio is the winner!" The announcer sums up the events that have taken place, "Tsunade's fourth, and final Pokemon is a Dodrio--and it shrugged off that last Thunderbolt like it was a Splash attack! What's more, with Smasher's Pikachu out of the game, the score for this match now sits at one Pokemon to two! Could Tsunade be making a comeback?" Smasher recalls Pikat-shoo into his Pokeball, and holds the orb out in front of his face, speaking into it. "Don't take it too hard, little guy. You did well--I guess that last Pokemon was just a bit too much for you to handle." He turns to Cerberus, angry that the Dodrio used such a ridiculous amount of force against his diminutive Pikachu, "So, you like picking on Pokemon that are smaller than you? Let's see how you feel when you're at the other end of the spectrum. Iron Horse, go!" The Pokeball that Smasher throws opens wide, releasing a long beam of energy--a beam which continues to lengthen, until it finally solidifies into the form of a thirty foot Steelix. The Iron Snake leers across the field at Cerberus, but Cerberus just narrows its eyes in response, not the least bit intimidated. Smasher commands, "Iron Horse, rush Dodrio, and attack with Iron Tail!" The Steelix complies, lowering itself onto its belly, and slithering across the slick surface of the ice at a very fast speed. It passes the chalk line that marks the separation of the red and green ends of the arena, and that's when Smasher realizes that something is wrong--Cerberus has not moved a single step. He quickly glances around the field, at the Dodrio, at Iron Horse, and at the two opaque mounds of ice that are on either side of his Steelix. Smasher's eyes grow wide, as he remembers what happened to the Feraligatr that battled Cerberus the day before. He shouts out to Iron Horse with a sense of urgency, "Iron Tail to your sides! It's hiding its Substitutes behind those glaciers!" "NEEEEIIIIIIIRU!" Iron Horse bellows, throwing his metal coils through the blocks of ice, demolishing the structures, and causing a flurry of snow and ice to crash down on the field. In the blink of an eye, Cerberus disappears from its spot at Nori's end of the field, and pounces on Iron Horse, slashing the distracted Steelix across the face with its talons. Iron Horse roars in agony, and throws its head back, blood streaming from beneath its iron eyelids. Smasher watches his Pokemon in disbelief. "Iron Horse! Oh no..." This definitely isn't the result he expected. He gathers his wits, and shouts across the field at Nori, in a voice that's shaking with rage and horror, "You *blinded* my Steelix?! For the sake of winning a battle, you *blinded* my Steelix?!?" "I'm not interested in maiming Pokemon," Nori says coldly. "Those injuries will keep Steelix incapacitated for the rest of the match, but they aren't serious enough to cause lasting damage. At any rate, it's your own fault that your Steelix was hurt--did you really think I would use the same strategy twice in a row?" She calls to Cerberus, who is circling around Iron Horse's head, waiting for the right moment to strike, "Put that sorry excuse for a Steel-type out of its misery." Cerberus caws, "DRIO!" and launches into a series of kicking attacks, brutalizing the already injured Steelix, until the snake Pokemon finally lets out a heavy groan, and pitches forward, crashing to the ground. Much of the Ice Field shatters under the enormous force of the impact, and for several minutes, the entire field is shrouded in a cloud of snow and hail that has been kicked up into the air. With the referee hidden beneath the veil, the announcer cannot say with certainty whether Iron Horse has fainted or not. Trying to keep the crowd interested until the snow settles, he runs the video of Cerberus gouging Iron Horse's eyes on the Jumbotron several times. "With a single blow, Trainer Tsunade has targeted Steelix's most vulnerable area, inflicting major damage, while reducing its accuracy to practically zero! What an incredible move! If this technique can be duplicated, it could end up being bigger than Double Team!" Many people in the audience cheer, not really caring about the state of Smasher's Steelix, but very excited about the prospect of gaining access to a new evasive move. The announcer plays off their enthusiasm, continuing, "Remember, folks, you saw it here first! Be sure to pick up your official Silver League Conference videos on your way out of the colosseum today!" Down on the field, a small group of tournament workers, with the help of a Magcargo and its Sunny Day technique, have cleared away enough of the mist to make the battle area visible again. The two trainers are standing in their respective positions, shivering violently, cold and wet as a result of the sudden snow storm. Cerberus is standing near the middle of the field, looking very unhappy as it shifts its weight from one foot to the other, trying to keep its legs from freezing in the waist-deep snow. Iron Horse is also near the middle of the field, but its metallic coils are barely visible, since it's half buried in the white powder. The referee, who is as cold and uncomfortable as everyone else on the field, raises his green flag without allowing his arm to tremble in the slightest. "Steelix is unable to battle! Dodrio is the winner!" "There you have it!" The announcer shouts, "Tsunade's Dodrio has defeated Smasher's Steelix! This match is coming down to the wire, with each Trainer having only one Pokemon remaining! Will Marowak soar to success with its second appearance in today's match, or will Dodrio pound it into the ground?" Smasher returns Iron Horse's Pokeball to his belt, and releases his Marowak onto the field. "Time to get extreme! Let's show everybody why you're called 'Ice'!" Ice the Marowak fires an Ice Beam attack out of his mouth, creating a solid pathway of ice, about six inches above the layer of powdery white snow that Cerberus is currently struggling to walk through. Easily moving by sliding along the pathway as it forms in front of him, Ice skates a circle around the immobile Dodrio, just for show. "Drio!" Incensed, Cerberus snaps its beaks at the passing Marowak, and flaps its wings rapidly, trying to dry its feathers, so it will be able to Fly out of the snow bank. "Cerberus!" Nori calls to her Dodrio, trying to keep it calm, since she knows it will be impossible for the bird to navigate the difficult terrain if it goes into a rage-induced frenzy, "Cerberus, keep your cool! Marowak may be able to move around, but it can't attack you. It's helpless without its bone club." "Helpless?" Smasher scoffs, "Ice, use Ice Beam on Dodrio!" Ice fires a short breath of ice directly in front of him, creating a small protuberance in his pathway, and he slides his leading foot against the bump to brake himself. Turning back towards the struggling Dodrio, the Marowak spits a stream of cold air in the bird's direction, hoping for a quick KO. The announcer sums up the effectiveness of this move, "Marowak uses Ice Beam, doing no damage at all!" Smasher sighs, "Okay, maybe we're a little helpless...but we won't give up! Come on, Ice, let's get your club back!" Ice nods, and fires an Ice Beam out of his maw, beginning construction on a new leg of his ice path--but before he can get very far, Cerberus leaps at him, knocking him off the narrow path, and into the snow below it! "All right, Cerberus!" Nori cheers for her newly freed Dodrio, "Use Drill Peck to end this!" "Ice, Double Team!" "Substitute!" The three Dodrios stab their beaks through three of the twelve Marowaks that are now on the field, but they only hit air. Ice uses Double Team again, creating another dozen clones, and every Marowak on the field simultaneously fires an Ice Beam attack! Cerberus Flies into the air, successfully dodging around some of the illusionary Ice Beams, while others connect with its body, but do no damage. Nori is about to order a Tri Attack, when the one authentic Ice Beam from the group hits its mark--colliding with her Pokebelt, and knocking one of the balls to the ground. The Pokeball snaps open, releasing her Houndour into the snow beside her. "Hey, that has to be a foul!" Nori calls to the referee, but he's too caught up in trying to keep track of the many Pokemon on the field to listen to her complaint--even as another Ice Beam hurtles in her direction, startling Anubis into dropping the bone he's holding. "Cerberus, Tri Attack!" Nori finally manages to get her command out, and she hastily recalls Anubis into his Pokeball, not wanting him to be struck by a stray technique. Cerberus obediently launches into its Tri Attack, obliterating half of Ice's shadow clones with an explosive move that incorporates the elements of fire, ice, and lighting. Even after this is done, however, ten Marowaks remain on the field, and they promptly retaliate with another barrage of Ice Beams. This time, Cerberus doesn't even bother to dodge the attacks, figuring that most of them will be mirages, and the authentic one will be laughably weak. Instead, it targets the Marowaks while they're frozen in their attacking position, and blazes a trail through the lot of them, running them through with its beaks. The shadow clones flicker and disappear, leaving Cerberus alone in the middle of the field. With no opponent in sight, the Dodrio lets out a triumphant screech, pleased with itself for obliterating every one of the Pokemon that attempted to attack it. "Another fierce display of power from Tsunade's Dodrio." The announcer notes, "Marowak seems to have vanished, perhaps buried by the force of Dodrio's attack. Judge, can we have a ruling?" Down on the field, the referee stands with his hands at his sides, scanning the field for movement. Nori watches the referee anxiously, waiting for him to make his decision. She is distracted, however, when she hears a soft humming sound emanating from nearby. She glances down at her feet, and at the bone club that Anubis left lying there, then runs her eyes along the trail of ice that leads from the end of the bone into a snow bank about ten feet away. Recognizing the hum of an Ice Beam attack now that it's been put into context, she shouts to get Cerberus' attention, "Fly into the air! Now!" Ice responds to the sound of Nori's voice before Cerberus does, and he jumps out of the snow bank, dragging the massive icicle that he's formed using his Ice Beam technique. He flips the icicle around, gripping the half-frozen bone club at the end of the clump, then hefts the entire thing over his shoulder like an enormous baseball bat. Smasher grins, "Ready, Ice? Let's hit a homer!" Ice brings the club down in a sweeping motion, catching Cerberus in the chest, and knocking it clear into the stands! The Marowak continues to spin around, carried by the momentum of the enormous weapon. After three complete spins, Ice drops the bat, and bracing himself against the icicle with one paw, carefully removes his bone club from within the block of ice. He turns to Smasher, and asks, "Marowak?" "Yup, it's good." Smasher shields his eyes from the sun as he looks up towards the spot in the stands where Cerberus landed. The referee raises his red flag for a fourth time, saying, "Dodrio is out of bounds. The Red Trainer is the winner!" "Yeah! We did it!" Smasher and Ice perform a victory dance at the red end of the field. "Aw." Nori sighs dejectedly, as she holds Cerberus' Ultra Ball high in the air, recalling the bird. "I guess I'll have to wait until next year to carry out my plan of becoming the League Champion, and destroying the Pokemon League from inside." She shrugs her shoulders, and walks back towards the Green Trainer's entrance. Meanwhile, Smasher is being swamped by reporters. "Mr. Samson! How do you feel about your recent win? "Mr. Samson! Could you tell us a little bit about your finishing move?" "Mr. Samson! Do you have any words for our viewers in Kanto?" "Well, I..." Smasher looks towards the opposite end of the arena, and notices that Nori is getting away, "As a Trainer of Extreme Pokemon, I have a very full schedule! Gotta jet!" He hops on his skateboard, and zooms over to the opposite end of the arena, arriving at the Green Trainer's waiting room just as Nori is leaving. He catches up to her in the lobby, and backs her into a wall, caging her with his arms so she can't escape. "Tsunade! Where do you think you're going? I won the match. Where's Big Time?" Nori thinks this over. "You know, I still don't feel like telling you." Smasher clenches his fists in frustration, "We had a deal!" "I only agreed to your terms, because I wanted to shut you up," Nori explains. "I was curious about your Baron Whatsit technique, because it was one of the few attacks that didn't register in my Movedex when I had it on autoscan during yesterday's fights; but I never had any intention of returning the Larvitar. He's not mine to give, and he isn't yours to take." Smasher points to Rush's Pokeball, and then at Nori, "Arcanine! Food!" "Yeah, right." Nori takes a moment to examine her fingernails, illustrating exactly how unconcerned she is about Smasher's threat. "I spent three years of my life dodging hungry Arcanine. If you want to scare me, you'll have to do better than that." "All right," Smasher accepts her challenge, "how about this? If you don't cooperate, I'll turn you over to the cops." "And what good will that do?" Nori continues to look bored. "In a couple of days, I'll be out on bail, and you still won't know where I took your Larvitar. You can throw threats at me all day long, and it still won't make any difference, because I know that I'm doing the right thing. That Larvitar never belonged to you, and you had no right to call yourself its Trainer." "Big Time is my friend!" Smasher shouts, "Can't you understand that?" He takes a deep breath, struggling to get his emotions back under control. "Okay. Okay. Tsunade? You say that you want to do what's right for Big Time, but you don't know Big Time. He's depressed. If you take him away from me, away from every Pokemon he's ever befriended, he's going to become even more depressed. Please give him back. I promised I'd take him to visit his family here at Mt. Silver, and if I break that promise, it's going to devastate him." "You were planning to take your Larvitar to visit his family?" Nori mulls over this new bit of information, "Hmmm. Maybe you're not as callous as I originally thought. Okay, I'll tell you what. I'll take you to see Big Time--" "Yes! Thank you!" Smasher exclaims, feeling encouraged. "...But, only because I want you to see how much better off he is in his native environment. Maybe then you'll realize how deplorable the practice of Pokemon Training really is." "Fine!" Smasher agrees, "Look, I'll listen to whatever political rants you want to give, just take me to see Big Time!" Nori holds up a restraining hand. "You'll have to be patient. I had my Blastoise take him to the nesting grounds earlier today, and that's almost thirty miles away from here. We can't Teleport directly to the site, since the Dark aura that the Tyranitars produce interferes with teleportation. By foot, it'll be about a six hour trip from the closest teleportation point to the Silver Cave. We can go there in two days, after the Conference is over." Smasher grits his teeth, not caring for this plan at all. "Two days? No way. How can I be sure that you won't run off?" Nori responds, "Because, I stand to gain more from this little tryst than you do. The way I see it, either one of two things will happen: If I can persuade you to give up on Pokemon Training, you'll be one less Trainer for me to worry about. And if you provoke the Tyranitars into killing you, that'll still work out in my favor. At any rate, I don't plan on leaving Silver Town until after the Conference is over. I've just about doubled my Movedex's database in the past day and a half, and I'm sure that most Trainers are saving their best techniques for the Finals. I can't miss out on that." Since it doesn't look like Nori is going to change her mind about the date, Smasher relents, "All right then, in two days. You obviously know where my room is, so meet me there after the closing ceremonies. And don't try anything funny! My Arcanine has one hell of a nose, and my Starmie can put a psychic trace on your Natu. If you do run away, I'll track you down." "Whatever." Nori ducks under Smasher's arms, and walks around him, "I'll be there. Now, if you don't mind, I'd like to get over to the stands. The third round will be starting in just a few minutes, and I need to keep my eyes peeled for other autocratic oppressors of my Dark-type brethren." TBC? --Beth