From: Adrian Tymes (wingcat@pacbell.net) Subject: [PW!][SC] Match 6: Something Very Fishy Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2003-12-01 21:53:09 PST "And for our fift-err, *sixth* match today, we have a potential upset! Whirl Cup second placer Aerie in the green corner, versus the up-and-coming Trent Rembrandt in the red! How fast can Trent mop the floor with yesterday's news? We'll see!" 'Aerie' looked up at the announcer's box with incredulity. What *had* Dee's daughter been up to all this time? "How appropriate, folks! Yesterday's news gets to be spread on a sandbox!" The arena floor slid away, soon replaced with a fresh field of rocks, along with a fresh referee who had ridden to her post on the new turf. "Trent will choose his pokemon first. Watch closely, folks, since this might be the only motion Trent has to make during the entire fight." Trent looked carefully at his opponent, unable to pick up her scent from across the arena. "Is this the imposter, or the real deal? Hmm. I might find out during the fight, but I need someone I can do without until then." "Sand," the black-spiked sandslash at his right offered. "Exactly. Graveler, I choose you!" "An excellent choice," the announcer beamed. "A rock pokemon for a rock field. Reviewing her previous performance, Aerie might as well toss in a magikarp for all the chance she has." The purple-haired one glanced right, seeing the crowd cheering the announcer's announcements. She glanced left, seeing an expectant look from the ref. She glanced down at the pokeball in her hand, noting the irony of having to use the tool she had once fought so hard to ban for cases like this. "Please forgive me, but it was the only way to sneak you in here." Rather than tossing the ball in, she thumbed its button...and crushed it almost before it had completely disgorged its contents, freeing the forming pokemon from its control. She might use them for transport, but she would be DAMNED if she was going to use it to force another pokemon to fight on her behalf. That the pokemon in the arena would be forced to fight now anyway was almost a technicality. Having closed her eyes to help fight off the bad feelings having used a pokeball left in her heart anyway, it was her ears that heard the crowd's near-silence, followed by the announcer's, "Umm...I...didn't mean that literally." She had expected some surprise. But this had been the real Aerie's pokemon at the Whirl Cup. And a great white magikarp, large enough to literally fill the arena, had certain advantages. For example, both Trent's Graveler and the referee had been buried beneath its mass. Up in the stands, said real Aerie was on the edge of her seat, while her companions held their noses. "Ae'ie, 'ow 'an 'o' *'TAN"* tha' smell?" Keaton wondered. "By turning off my nose," she replied as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Can't you?" "NO." Aerie shook her head. "Right, sorry, I forgot. Anyway, everyone's distracted right now. Time for phase two." She headed for the stairs, eagerly followed by two siblings looking forward to moving upwind of the stench of semi-frozen magikarp. Trent backed away instinctively, reaching the safety of the overhang he had entered from before the materializing magikarp could bury him. "Graveler! Can you hear me?" As the magikarp started flopping like a magikarp out of water, he thought he saw glimpses of the gray rocks of his pokemon amidst the dusty brown of the field's rocks, along with the legs of the referee sliding up and down the wall she was pinned to. The crowd roared, and Trent soon saw why: the ref's arm with the red flag had popped over the magikarp, signalling Graveler's defeat. Trent held up Graveler's pokeball, but was unable to get a clear shot. "Great. He'll have to come back on his own. Vertigo, go!" Another pokeball spat forth another beam of red, which happened to intersect the water pokemon's mouth and travel down its gullet. "What an interesting play, folks! Our microphones confirm, Trent has chosen Exeggutor, who he has materialized inside this monster magikarp! Will he be able to-WHAT'S THIS?!?!? The referee is already signalling Exeggutor's defeat! For a washed-up has-been, Aerie is showing impressive speed in this contest!" In truth, said referee had heard none of this, and was just fighting for air. She held onto her flags with the devotion of duty, trying to climb towards the light. The light looked so inviting just then, almost as if her spirit could detatch from her body and just float into it. Trent palmed his forehead. "Ashura, get on top of it and dig in!" "Slash!" Ashura deftly climbed onto the magikarp, whose thrashing was starting to slow down. One quick walk to the center later, he did exactly as Trent had commanded, boring a red hole in the snow-white mass of scales. He soon disappeared from view, leaving a trail of karp guts behind him, then the red flag popped up and waved a third time. "UNBELIEVABLE! Trent is defeated, three to nothing! Could it be that Aerie is making a comeback?" Resolving once again to find out what had earned the announcer's enmity, 'Aerie' raised her mint-condition ultra ball to recapture the magikarp - then spun 180 degrees, unused ball still in hand, just in time to catch a glint from the darkness. Someone was clearly there, but whoever it was, was hiding perfectly from the ditto's senses. "Hello?" "How dare you," came a growled whisper. 'Aerie' narrowed her eyes, trying to peer into the unusually dark shadows. "Excuse me?" "Doppler. You would steal your own daughter's identity, just because you could no longer deal with your own? And then ruin her image by becoming a wannabe superhero, going against everything you once wanted your daughter to stand for? In the name of Aerie, I WILL PUNISH YOU!" The speech had its intended effect. Dee stood there, unbelieving, as a Hyper Beam blasted the ditto presently-girl into the sky above the arena, closely followed by a half-ditto girl flying under her own power. TBC? [NS: In-joke - Rob's initial email said Aerie vs. Trent was match 5.]