From: Jose L. Solano (jsolano199@aol.comlink) Subject: [PW!] You really did it this time, Trent Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Date: 2003-10-16 02:30:10 PST Pokewars!: Trent Retwin "...see above! I hate you." Jose L. Solano With a sudden jolt, Trent stood up with a look of shock on his face. He had been sitting at the entrance to cave in Sootopolis for almost an entire day in a trance-like state induced by Vee, the Unown that dwelled inside him and shared with him part of its psychic power. Ashura had been sleeping nearby with bits of pizza littered the ground around him. "...Slash?" "Vee felt something... Ashura, you ordered pizza and didn't tell me?!" "Sand." Trent stood up and stretched. Not having moved at all for nearly a day had tightened his joints. It was late evening and the sky outside was a dark red as the last traces of the sun disappeared. He felt a slight tremor beneath him and there was another flash in his head. He grabbed his forehead in pain. "Slash?!" "It's Vee... feeling... pain... I... ARGH!" Trent felt a horrible splitting sensation in his head and felt a strange release. He shook his head and looked above him. "Hey! HEY!" Vee was hovering above his head. Before separating, Trent had understood that whatever was in the cave had begun to cause Vee tremendous pain somehow. Unable to force Trent to leave, Vee decided to leave. "No you don't!" Before Vee could disappear, Trent hurled a Pokéball at the Shiny Unown. "You're not going anywhere!" "No, boss, not to worry," a voice said from inside the cave. "We got it covered." Trent quickly pocketed the Pokéball and ran behind a large rock as two thugs, dressed in some bizarre red and black uniform, walked past him. "Boss said he doesn't want onions." "Ah, onions're th' best part!" "You heard him, no onions. Extra mustard, though." "No onions, but more mustard?" "I don't get it either." Once they had passed, Trent moved out from behind the rock and ran into the cave. Ashura slowly walked after him. He could hear more voices, but he couldn't tell what they were saying. Eventually, he reached a set of stone steps leading down to a large chamber , lit with a bright red light. He looked towards the bottom to see a pool of bubbling lava, and surrounding it were more of the red thugs. There was one in particular that stood out, a red-haired man wearing a more formal version of the outfit the thugs wore with a red M logo on his chest. "It's under control, for now," a female thug told the leader. The boss took a Pokéball from his belt and pointed it at the pool of lava. "Can you hear me under there? I'm your master! I freed you from your prison, now you'll do as I command! Now, rise!" "Easy on the drama, boss." "You didn't like it? I practiced it." The cave rumbled and the lava bubbled. "Stupid beast, you defy your master? Rise!" "Sir... we have a spy." The boss looked up to the top of the stairs and saw a pair of red eyes glowing in the shadows. "It better not be another Shuppet," he mumbled. "Come down from there, what do you want?" "What exactly are you doing?" Trent asked as he descended. "...Something. Who are you?" "I'm... uh... Tnert. Tnert Niwter." "That's a horrendously stupid name. I am Maxie." "That's a horr-" "Shut up, I've been told before. So then, Tnert, are you with us or against us?" "...Who are you?" "Tell him!" Maxie ordered. His thugs gathered around him and struck dramatic poses. "We are the mighty Team Magma! Just as the earth provides for us, we provide for the earth! We protect the land from those who wish it harm, and our enemies will... uh..." "You didn't finish writing it, did you? Alright, he gets the point, back in places." The thugs hurried back to their spots. "Now then, are you a villain from Team Aqua?" "Never heard of them." "Good! So why are you here, then?" "I... wanted to see what all the excitement was. You can't have a party without Tnert Niwter!" Trent's tongue was almost tied trying to say it that time. "So what's in the pool?" "To put it simply, the most powerful Pokémon ever to walk the earth," Maxie replied. "It was dormant for years, but we managed to awaken it. It shows us no gratitude, however. It can't leave this lava pool," Maxie pointed to a small device near the lava pool that generated some sort of dim energy field, "So it has no choice but to obey me or stay here. Hopefully it will come to its senses." The cave trembled. "Out of my way, I can get it out," Trent said. He pushed Maxie aside and took two Pokéballs from his trenchcoat. The cave trembled again and he dropped on, right into the lava pool. "Oh, FUCK." Trent was fortunate that there was no Pokémon inside. "What... the cave... Tnert, what have you done?!" It was unfortunate that this was one of Trent's cleverly disguised grenades... perhaps too clever. Trent could usually tell the difference, but he had chosen a bad time to try to impress people by not actually looking at the stupid things. The explosion sprayed lava over the cave walls and sent the Magma agents dashing for cover. The cave once again shook, bits of rock falling onto the cave floor and melting into the lava pool. Trent took a step back as the lava flowed out of the pool and a black monster covered with glowing red armor plates appeared at its center. "What the hell is that thing?!" The monster roared angrily, swiping its large claws at the air and splashing its equally dangerous tail against the lava in its rage. "The legendary Ground Pokémon, Groudon," Maxie whispered. Quickly, Maxie threw his Pokéball at it, but Groudon swatted it with its tail. Groudon regarded Maxie with its glowing yellow eyes and a fissure appeared in the cave floor towards Maxie with lava flowing through it. Maxie widened his stances as the lava flowed between his feet. Trent realized he had another Pokéball in his hand, an empty one. He threw it as hard as he could and hit Groudon right in the face and it transformed into energy and entered the Pokéball. The Pokéball dropped into the lava and exploded instantly, releasing Groudon. "Dammit!" Trent yelled. In his anger, he kicked the force-field generator into the lava. "You IDIOT!" Maxie yelled. Panicking, Maxie threw out two of his own Pokéballs and two Pokémon Trent had never seen before, the wolf-like Mightyena and the volcanic Camerupt, emerged to face Groudon. Faced with this battle, Groudon chose another way out. It dove into the lava and the trembling intensified. "It's using Dig!" Maxie yelled. The lava quickly drained from the pool into a hole created by Groudon. The cave slowly stopped shaking as Groudon went farther and farther into the earth. "WHY DID YOU DO THAT?!" "Do WHAT?!" Trent asked. "You kicked the device into the lava! You let Groudon get away! Do you have any idea what the chances are of finding it in these conditions again?!" "No, and you know what? I don't care! It's not my battle!" Maxie raised his hands and his thugs all drew Pokéballs. "...I see. I'll... just be on my way." Quickly, Trent jumped up several steps and ran back out of the cave. Maxie sighed and looked at the hole where the laval pool had been. "Look on the bright side, boss," the female thug said, "Now that he's free, he'll dry up the seas again. That's what we wanted, right?" "You're right... but the other one might be free, too." "You don't think..." "Everyone back to the base. We're going to have a hell of a time tracking this thing." Outside the cave, Ashura finished the last slice of leftover pizza as Carol arrived with several shopping bags. "Oh, there you are," Trent scowled at Ashura. "I thought you were with me back there, you damn coward. You, what are you doing here?" "I was just checking to see what's going on. So what happened?" Carol asked. "Long story. Nothing left to see here. Let's go." DUN DUN DUN Jose L. Solano ------------------------------- A devious, degenerate defender of the devil