From: Bandraptor (bandraptor@yahoo.com) Subject: [PW!] When Conference Calls, Nori Answers Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2003-10-28 00:48:35 PST Nori and her Pokemon are lazing about in the grassy fields of Mt. Silver. They are all very relaxed. Nori is in a good mood, because she's found a baby Larvitar to play with, and she's always glad to be around a fellow Dark-type. It's the principal of tonal cluster. Anubis the Houndour is in a good mood, because he's just naturally laid back, and Set the Natu is gleeful, because he's been away from the Ruins of Alph for a very long time, and he imagines that his brothers are sick with worry. Even Cerberus the Dodrio is cheery, although only because it's in the process of vivisecting a Tangela, and pretending the victim is Nori. This may not be a good thing. Nori leans back in the grass, and folds her arms behind her head. "It feels good to be back at Mt. Silver. It's so peaceful and quiet here. The Tyranitars keep all of the Psychics away, and trainers hardly ever come up here at all." She snickers, "And best of all, Officer Jenny has no jurisdiction here." Nori sits up abruptly. "Hey, let's not go back to Mahogany Town ever again. We don't need that stress. We can stay up here, live with the Pokemon, commune with nature, and--CERBERUS, NO RANDOM KILLING!" Cerberus screeches defiantly, and gives the Ponyta that it was eviscerating a spiteful kick. "Well, anyway..." Nori resumes petting the Larvitar, "I like it up here. With so many people in the world, I hope that Mt. Silver always remains this bucolic." Right on cue, a whole group of Trainers comes walking up the mountain trail! They are talking loudly amongst themselves, and leading a variety of trained Pokemon off leash. When one of them happens to get a glimpse of Nori, he points at her, and then the entire crew moves in her direction. "Excuse me!" The pointer calls as he draws near, "Excuse me! Can you tell me where you caught that Larvitar?" Nori gestures to the baby. "Him?" "Yeah." The boy crouches down to get a better look at the saurian Pokemon. "The Silver Conference is coming up, and I want to have a Tyranitar on my team. Can you tell me where you caught him?" Nori picks the Larvitar up, and pulls him protectively into her lap. "This is a wild Pokemon, and no, I won't tell you where he's from. The Tyranitar line is off limits to trainers." "What?" The boy and his friends discuss this, unsure of whether Tyranitars are a protected species or not. One of the girls speaks up, "I'm pretty sure that Tyranitars are legally catchable..." "They are." Nori agrees, "I'm just not going to let you catch any. Tyranitar is the king of all Pokemon, and no member of the species should be reduced to serving as a human's slave. Mess with the ones on this mountain, and I'll have my Dodrio tear you apart." The trainers simultaneously glance over at the gore encrusted Cerberus, who has rivulets of fresh blood running down its metal beak, and decide that Nori is probably serious about her threat. The boy who initiated the conversation cajoles, "Uhhhhh...yeah...we'll just be going now..." "You do that." Nori glares after the group until its members are a good ways past the entrance to the cave that Larvitar's family inhabits. When they are out of sight, she leans back in the grass again, and sighs deeply. "Poor Larvitar. If the Silver Conference is approaching, then all sorts of people are going to be trekking up this mountain, and threatening your family. I think I'll blow up the stadium, and put an end to this nonsense straightaways." Larvitar cocks his head. "Larvi?" "Hmmm...of course, if I do that, the Pokemon League will probably hire contractors to rebuild--and then there will be humans on Mount Silver practically around the clock. Okay. Maybe I'll just enter the Conference myself, and give all of those would-be Tyranitar poachers a good beating. That'll be fun." Nori perks up considerably at the thought of hurting people. "Besides, tournament contestants always get free food! That's why I entered the Indigo League tournament four years ago...and there's usually some prize money involved...Set, Anubis, what do you think?" Anubis barks loudly, to tell her that she had him at the word "food". Set chirps, "<The House of NATU shall smite all serfs heretical to thy divine order.>" Since Nori has no psychic ability whatsoever, she cannot understand her Natu's language; but he sounds enthusiastic, so she takes that for what it's worth. "Okay! I'm going to bring Larvitar back to his mother, and after that, we can register." She recalls Anubis and Cerberus into their Pokeballs, takes Set on her shoulder, and starts jogging in the direction of the Silver Cave. * * * When Nori arrives at the Silver Stadium Pokemon Center, it is almost sunset, and the village surrounding the coliseum is completely deserted. Being a bit egotistical, she assumes that everybody fled the area when they heard that she was coming. Actually, the vacancy has to do with the fact that it is still over a month before the start of the Silver Conference, and the traveling venders who set up shop during the tournament have yet to arrive. The interior of the Pokemon Center is also quite empty, so Nori is able to walk right up to the Conference registration desk, without having to wait in line. The volunteer worker who's stationed at the desk stretches and yawns. "Hello," she says groggily, "you're the first trainer who's been in here today. Would you like to register for the Silver Conference?" "Yeah." Nori hands the lady her Trainer ID, one which says her name is Tsunade, and that she's from Cianwood. "Okay," the volunteer types some information into her computer, then returns the card, "according to your trainer profile, you only have three Pokemon. You'll need six in order to participate in this particular tournament. I can still sign you up if you want, but if our records don't show you owning at least six Pokemon by the first day of the tournament, you'll automatically be purged from the system." "Got it." Nori pockets her identification, and walks out of the Pokemon Center. She looks toward her Natu, as if expecting him to answer her next question, "So...how am I going to find three battle-ready Pokemon in such a short period of time?" TBC... --Sigless Beth