From: Rob (robfrompw@yahoo.com) Subject: [PW!] Happy Birthday To Sarah Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2003-11-22 15:37:32 PST At a dining room table in a Mareep Farm on Route 32 in Johto, a family gathers for the 18th birthday of a once-shy girl who hasn't been quite herself for over a year now. Sitting at the head of the table is the alpha male of the patriarchal family, a tan, muscular man named Bob. To the right of Bob sits his brother's wife, Susan. Bob's father, Victor, sits to Bob's left. Margaret, Susan's mother, sits next to Victor. Next to Susan sits Teddy, her son. At the end of the table opposite to Bob sits a fair-skinned teenage girl with hazel eyes and long blonde hair that flows down her back - the birthday girl. Unlike the rest of her family, she has more than one name. Some know her as Belle, but her family knows her as Sarah. Therefore, when the family begins to sing in chorus, they use the name her parents gave her. "Happy birthday to you," they sing, "Happy birthday to you! Happy birthday, dear Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, Sarah..." Though the name was actually only sung once, in the teenage girl's mind, the name is repeated over and over as she begins to have flashbacks to times when this song has been sung to her before by the very people who surround her now. First, she remembers her tenth birthday, then her thirteenth, then her fifteenth. After that, she remembers leaving the farm. She remembers the three times she challenged Falkner. She remembers meeting a Ditto named Mimic. She remembers defeating a Spinarak in Bugsy's Gym. She remembers being in a bathroom with a purple-haired boy in a cottage in the Ilex Forest. She remembers her Sunkern winning a Pokemon Race in Johto's National Park. She remembers a giant Sudowoodo being impressed by a newborn Teddiursa. She remembers training her Pokemon by a pond near Mount Mortar. She remembers a rock slide. She even remembers waking up from a coma in Cianwood City's Hospital, training at Chuck's Gym, and entering the Whirl Cup Competition. "Haaaaaaapy biiiiirthday," the family concludes their song in unison, "Toooo yooooou!" They applaud once the song is over. When the birthday girl stays perfectly still, her hazel eyes staring into the distance, instead of blowing out the candles on her birthday cake, Teddy leans over to blow out the candles for her, but his mother holds him back. Susan asks, "Sarah, is somethin' the matter?" "I... I remember." Sarah rubs her forehead as thousands of memories rush through her head, "I remember everythin', ma." "'Bout time, Sarah." Uncle Bob grunts from across the table, "I was gettin' pretty sick of all this Belle nonsense. Maybe now that yer back to yer senses you'll realize yer much better off here than in Cianwood." "Is that all you can think about, son?" Victor tells Uncle Bob, shaking his head, "Your niece just got back all her memories and you're harpin' on her stayin' on the farm?" Margaret nods, "Yes, please have some sympathy for the poor girl." "Uncle Bob is right." Sarah admits as she rubs her now-aching head, "It's not safe out there. At the Whirl Cup, a murderer was on the loose. In Cianwood, I found out Mimic, who I thought was my friend, was workin' with him. And that awful, derranged hissin' kid who grabbed me was scary... Not to mention the rock slide that made me lose my memories in the first place! I am much better off here than in Cianwood or anywhere else in Johto." "What?!" Teddy gasps, "But you..." Before he can finish his thought, his mother casts him an angry glance that shuts him up. "Oh, thank goodness, Sarah!" Susan stands up and embraces her daughter, "I'm glad you've finally come to your senses, after all these years! Now I won't have to worry about you runnin' off anymore!" "I'm glad you're happy, ma!" Sarah blows out the candles on the cake and reaches for the dull knife on the table, "Now let's all have some cake so I can head off to bed. I've got a bit of a headache." After Sarah cuts the cake her mother baked for her birthday, Susan distributes slices to everyone sitting at the table. Once they finish the delicious dessert, Sarah hugs all of her family members and retreats to her room. The moment Sarah enters her room, she's greeted by her five Pokemon, who are all wearing multi-colored cone-shaped party hats. Barbie the Flaaffy throws pink confetti into the air, Blazer the Cyndaquil blows a small burst of flame out of his mouth, Sunkern (who's rubbing up against the Charcoal Coat Blazer's wearing) Grows to twice her regular size, and Tyrogue releases a bunch of red balloons, which float up to the ceiling and stay there. Luthor the Slowpoke, annoyed by the festive party hat placed upon his head by Sarah's Tyrogue, blows on the noisemaker the Tyrogue shoved in his mouth in an attempt to spit it out. However, the noisemaker simply unfolds away from his mouth and makes a funny sound before retracting. "Awwww, how sweet! Thanks for throwin' me a party, y'all!" Sarah smiles at the effort her Pokemon put forth to throw her a surprise party, "It's too bad Uncle Bob doesn't let Pokemon sit at the dinin' table - it would've been great if y'all could've eaten with us. Guess what?" "Flaa?" "Quil?" "Kern?" "Rogue?" "You have finally located my crown and will place it upon my head then trade me to the nearest human so that I may become a Slowking and commence to assume my position as rightful ruler of all existing universes?" Sarah blinks twice at her Slowpoke before telling him, "No, silly!" She then addresses all of her Pokemon when she proclaims, "I remember my past! I even remember what happened when I was callin' myself Belle." "Oh." Luthor frowns, the streamer still stuck in his mouth, "Hooray for overcoming the effects of red kryptonite, Supergirl. Now get back to work! Luthor's crown isn't going to find itself!" "Actually, I've decided to stay here at the farm where it's safe," Sarah reveals her plan as she plops herself onto her bed and covers herself with her sheets, "If you wanna look for that crown on your own, feel free, but I'm stayin' right here." The angry party-hat-wearing Slowpoke Growls, "Luthor does not tolerate such insubordination!" "That's nice," Sarah says whilst yawning, ignoring her Slowpoke's rant, then she tells her Pokemon, "I've got a headache, so I wanna go to sleep early. We can celebrate more in the mornin', 'kay?" Shortly after closing her eyes, Sarah drifts off to sleep. Once Sarah is asleep, four out of five of her Pokemon leave her room to see if they can score any leftovers from Sarah's mom. Luthor stays, intent on giving Sarah an even worse headache using his willpower alone for talking back to her. Suddenly, Sarah screams - not due to Luthor's attempt at attacking her, but due to her little brother tickling her neck to wake her up. She bursts into a fit of giggles while she threatens, "Teddy, you better have a good reason for wakin' me up like this or else..." She can't finish the threat since she's laughing so much. "Quiet, Sarah - listen to me." Teddy moves his small fingers away from his sister's neck and lifts a flyer advertising the upcoming Silver Conference, "I got this ad for the Silver Conference yesterday from my friend Mary two farms down. I was gonna ask Belle... uh, you... ya know what I mean... to enter the Conference. I thought convincin' uncle that if ya won this Tournament it could make us rich an' famous would be the perfect way to getcha outta here, since ya wanted to leave so bad. But now yer sayin' ya don't wanna leave? How come? You remembered all that bad stuff when you were Belle and still wanted to leave." After calming down, Sarah explains, "I was on a power-trip when I was callin' myself Belle. I wasn't thinkin' straight. When I got back my old memories, I compared them with the memories I made as Belle and I realized the simple life I had in this farm before I left the first time was wonderful. I had my chance to see the world, Teddy. I've seen a lot of Johto - I've seen ENOUGH of Johto. I can sleep easy now... provided you don't tickle me like that. So goodnight!" She pulls her white sheets over her head to hide from her brother's fingers and closes her eyes. "But you might be passin' up the opportunity of a life time!" Teddy argues, despite not being able to look into his sister's face, "This ad says you need six Pokemon to enter and if I give you back Teddiursa, you'll have just enough Pokemon! Don't you see? You just have to show up and try your best! If you want to stop traveling the world after winnin' or losin', that's fine, but you should at least TRY to win this Silver Conference! You may not call yourself Belle anymore, but I know there's a part of you that wants to enter this Tournament. Will you please enter the Silver Conference? Will you do it for me?" Sarah sighs, uncovers her head, and looks at Teddy, "I still haven't changed my mind about stayin' at the farm..." Teddy slouches over in defeat. "But since you have so much faith in me," says Sarah as Teddy looks up, a smile appearing on his face, "And since my Pokemon could use some experience considerin' they haven't battled in months, I'll enter the Silver Conference..." "YAY!" Teddy jumps for joy! "IF you can convince Uncle Bob to let me go. I'm sure not gonna do it." Sarah once again covers her head with her bedsheets before saying, "Now let me sleep, Teddy - my headache's getting worse." A very happy Teddy lifts Luthor off the ground and hugs him while spinning around, "I know you have as much faith in Sarah as I do, Luthor - you're always calling her a super girl! Now let's go get Uncle Bob to agree with us!" As Teddy carries Luthor out of the room, the Slowpoke mutters to himself, "Blast - foiled once again by Superboy! I need to locate some kryptonite." After Teddy removes Luthor from Sarah's room, Sarah drifts off to sleep once again. Soon, Sarah's headache is remedied by pleasant dreams featuring recently-remembered happy memories. -Sarah