Subject: [PW!] See ya, Cianwood! Date: Mon, 17 Mar 2003 09:12:21 GMT From: Rob <robfrompw@yahoo.com> Organization: AT&T Worldnet Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Belle blinks. She faces the people and Pokemon standing before her, and they all seem to be staring at her. Not intimidated, she stares right back at the following people gathered in the Cianwood City Pokemon Center: Mimic, a Ditto currently in human form who is supposedly a good friend of Belle's, but who isn't acting like it. Travis, a cute guy who Belle believes wants to take advantage of her. Becky, a spunky girl who Belle strongly dislikes, partly due to her good relationship with Travis. Blazer, Belle's Cyndaquil, who is seems happy to be free from his Fast Ball. Yolei and Lynkeru, two people Belle barely recognizes who entered the Center what seems like moments ago. Standing between these two is a Psyduck who's sipping on a slushee and two shiny Unown, a P-shaped one and a Y-shaped one, who are spinning over the Psyduck's head. Belle can't take the blank stares any longer, so she snaps and shouts, "What're y'all lookin' at me for?! It seems like you've all been starin' at me like that for hours... or even days! Someone say somethin' or do somethin'! Anythin' but stare at me!" Suddenly, the Pokemon Center's glass doors shatter. Belle smiles, "That's better." A familiar man in a black outfit and a Sandslash step over the shards of glass on the floor, entering the Pokemon Center. Belle frowns, "...that's not." "Finally! Damn door." The man in the black outfit comments, reaching for his gun, "It was even stronger than the one at the Gym, which is weird considering this one was made of glass." Yolei recognizes the voice - it belongs to Trent Retwin, the man who tried to kill her during the Whirl Cup Competition. She immediately whispers to Lynkeru that she should hide the Unown floating beside her and follow her out through the Center's back door. "Slash!" The Sandslash points at the two shiny Unown floating over the Psyduck's head, seconds before they are absorbed into their Pokeballs. "What is it, Ashura?" Trent waves his gun, "Can't you see I'm busy here? Those idiots at the Gym had no idea who Roxie was, but someone here might." He looks over at where Ashura is pointing, but sees nothing important. "I don't know who you are, but I don't allow..." The Nurse Joy behind the counter begins, but Trent aims his gun at her head and pulls the trigger. Belle screams and ducks when she hears the gunshot, while Becky starts to assume a fighting position to disarm Trent. However, before Becky finishes assuming her position, both the bullet that's shot out of Trent's gun, as well as Trent and Ashura, freeze in time and space. "What happened?" Travis asks, surprisingly calm considering the situation. Mimic answers Travis' query, "Mimic spend much time with shiny Unown. Know some shiny Unown tricks." Since everyone in the Pokemon Center has turned to look at him, Mimic reveals an opened black Pokeball he's holding in one hand and points at the ceiling with his other. Hovering above where Trent is standing are two W-shaped shiny Unown. "Mimic think fast - release Dbu then form mental link. Mimic suggest use double skill to multiply time freeze effect then time freeze Trent, Ashura, and bullet. Not last long, but long enough for Joy get out harm way." "...I don't get you, Mimic." Belle puts her hands on her hips, "First you hire Trent to do your dirty work, then you stop him from doin' it?! If he was about to shoot Nurse Joy for no reason, I'm scared of what he might've done at the Cianwood Gym. I'm goin' over there right now to make sure everyone's okay... and don't bother followin' me, Travis - I can tell you and Becky are on Mimic's side, so I don't wanna have anythin' to do with either of you!" Belle recalls her Cyndaquil into his Fast Ball and marches out of the Pokemon Center. On her way to the Cianwood City Gym, Belle spots Yolei, Lynkeru, and the Psyduck from the Pokemon Center heading in the same direction as her. As she approaches them on her jog to the Center, Belle overhears Yolei asking Lynkeru, "When did our Unown come out of their Pokeballs, anyhow? Weren't they in there when we entered the Center?" "I don't know. Maybe they sensed danger and came out to protect us?" Lynkeru muses, "What do you think, Indi? You're usually pretty good at spotting unseen danger." A tiny twinkling orb of light floating next to Lynkeru, whom Belle had overlooked in the Pokemon Center, says something only Lynkeru can hear. "Yeah, it was probably that." Yolei frowns, "But if that's the case, who were they protecting us from? Trent, or someone... or some THING... else?" "More pressscious Unownsss!" A thin, deranged, half-naked kid wearing only Shorts leaps out from in-between two buildings, pinning Lynkeru to the ground with his bare hands, "Don't think we didn't sssseesss them in our mind eye! They may have frozen the Pokemon Center in time and sssspace, but we knewsss it wasss jussssst a matter of time before the pressssciousesss would be free again! Free for the Shortses to get! They freezesss it once, they freezesss it twice, but now they're powerlessss to sssstop the asssimilation processsssss!" Without opening the Pokeballs on Lynkeru's person, he snatches them away from her and starts racing away from Yolei, Lynkeru, and the Psyduck on all fours. Belle freaks out upon seeing the demented child once again as he approaches her with an evil grin on his face. However, instead of leaping on her, he simply runs right between her legs, fleeing Yolei and Lynkeru, who are now in hot pursuit. Belle steps out of the way as the bespectacled girl and the Gerudo, who now has her swords drawn, chase after the Shorts Kid. Belle starts running, instead of jogging, towards the Gym. Once she gets there, she sees a woman who looks somewhat familiar sitting in the Gym's garden, tending to the flowers, but she doesn't know where she's seen the woman before. "Hey, who're you? Are you a friend of Chuck's wife? Do you know if everyone in the Gym's okay?" When the woman turns to face Belle, she has a giant smile on her face, "Sarah! You're finally free from the spell of the Unown! I've been waitin' two weeks here for you!" She stands up and runs to embrace the blonde teenager. "Spell of the Unown?" Belle asks, not pulling away from the woman's embrace but very confused as to why the woman's hugging her, "I didn't ask if you were waitin' for me. I asked if everyone in the Gym was okay. A person named Trent stopped by here moments ago..." "That was last month, dear." The woman kisses Belle on her forehead, "I hadn't even arrived at the Gym yet, but I heard about it in the time I've stayed here. Yes, everyone's okay, but we've gotta get out of here - all sorts of weird things have been happenin' in this City lately. For example, you've been stuck in the Pokemon Center for weeks without movin' along with some other people and all I could do was look through the glass doors and wait for you to thaw. I knew you'd thaw eventually since somethin' just like this happened in the Violet City Pokemon Center last year and the people that were stuck in that Center were okay. I'm just so happy you're finally back! I've missed you so much!" "...wait, wait, wait. I'm confused." Belle rubs her temples, "And you still haven't answered the first question I asked. Who're you?" "You really don't recognize me, Sarah?" The woman runs her fingers through Belle's long blonde hair, "I heard you had amnesia from Chuck and Nurse Wendy, but I thought you'd at least recognize your own ma." Belle squints her eyes, trying to place the woman's face, "You're... my mother? How did you find me?" Belle's mother explains, "We don't have televisions at our farm, but some of our neighbors do, and when Farmer Frank saw you on the Whirl Cup, he told us about it. He said you were representin' the Cianwood Gym, so your uncle, your brother, and I came here to look for you. When we saw the condition you were in and found out it could be months before you thawed, Bob, your uncle, and Teddy, your brother, went back home to take care of the farm. They took the belongings of yours we claimed from the Cianwood Hospital with them. I stayed here to wait for you until today, and all my waiting has finally paid off! Let's hurry home, Sarah - I caught an Abra on the way over that'll help us get back home quickly. Nurse Wendy thinks it's best for you to spend some time at home, since you might remember your past faster if you're among family." "But... but..." Belle is overwhelmed by all the information, "Can I at least say good-bye to Master Chuck and his students?" "Of course, Sarah!" Belle's mother leads Belle into the Cianwood City Gym, her arm around Belle's back. Chuck, his wife, and his students are sitting at the Dining Room Table, having dinner. When they see Belle, many of them start murmuring amongst themselves. Chuck stands up with a big smile on his face, happy to see his female student back in his Gym. "Hi, Belle, I see you've met up with your mom!" Seeing mother and daughter standing next to each other, tears start streaming down the large man's face as he exclaims, "Oh, it's such a beautiful reunion!" He wipes away the tears and says, "...we're gonna miss you, Belle. Be sure to come back some day to finish your training!" "I'll try to, Chuck..." Belle smiles and reverently bows at her teacher, "Thanks for teachin' me all you did in the short time I was here." Once farewells are issued from the students sitting at the table, including a very happy one from Timmy and a very sad one from Chuck's wife, Belle's mom pulls out a Pokeball and releases the Abra she caught weeks ago. Belle grabs one of the Abra's hands with one of her hands and waves farewell with her free hand as her mom grabs the Abra's other hand. "See ya, Cianwood!" Belle says seconds before her mother commands, "Abra, Teleport to Violet City!" Belle, her mother, and the Abra disappear. -Belle (( NS: I'm putting Belle on hiatus for a while. ))