From: "Rob" <robfrompw@yahoo.com> Subject: [PW!] A More Perfect Union Room Date: Sunday, May 16, 2004 1:16 AM "You're all out of male avatars?!" Robert, the black-haired Leader of Lavender Town's Diversity Gym, incredulously asks the blonde woman sitting behind one of the three desks found on the second floor of Saffron City's Pokemon Center. "Silph Co. is currently beta testing their virtual-reality Union Rooms," the woman explains, "There have been many advancements in Union Room technology in recent months, but there are still a limited amount of available avatars, and all the male ones are being used by people testing the Union Room behind us." Robert frowns. "I guess I'll have to wait for one of those people to finish..." "You shouldn't keep Zafiro waiting," Mithril-rama, Robert's black-haired girlfriend points out from her place beside Robert, "You arranged to meet him now when you called him on the phone. You're already a few minutes late - if you wait any longer, Zafiro might get tired of waiting and decide not to trade with you at all." "You're right, Rilli..." "Just pick one of the female avatars. It's not like it would be the first time you looked like a girl here in Saffron City," Mithril-rama reminds her boyfriend, "Except this time it won't be as frightening since Sabrina isn't going to be involved." Hearing the name of the Gym Leader who frustrated him considerably towards the end of his first Pokemon Journey, Robert looks left and right then leans towards Rilli and asks in a whisper, "How can you be so sure?" "For starters, she has no reason to mess with us anymore," answers Rilli, "Secondly, she's been on vacation in Hoenn for months now. Apparently she got tired of dealing with Trainers trying to earn Marsh Badges." "In that case..." Robert slams his hand on the desk before him and tells the blonde woman, "I'll take a female avatar." The receptionist shows Robert two disks, each one labeled with a picture of a female avatar and the name of the avatar. She asks Robert, "Crystal or Leaf?" "Leaf? What kind of a name is-" "Leaf it is," the woman hands Robert the Leaf disk and points to the door next to her desk, "Please go through that door and put on an available VR headset and gloves. Place your Pokeballs and Pokedex in the machine attached to your headset. After that, put the disk in the machine and you'll be ready to go. Be sure to stand on the mat in front of the machine - that way, you can walk in place to move around the Union Room. If you want to battle or trade with someone in the Union Room, use the Pokeballs on your avatar's belt. They will contain virtual replicas of the Pokemon you placed in the machine. If you have any problems, say the phrase, 'I need help' and a technical support representative will assist you." "I don't have a Pokedex, but I do have a Pokepedia." Robert takes out his Pokepedia and shows the device to the receptionist. "Do you think this will work?" "It might," the woman replies, "If it doesn't, don't worry about it. Placing a Pokedex in the machine is optional. It just provides the other Trainers in the Union Room and the Union Room program itself with additional information about you. The feature might be removed in the final release of the program, but it is presently useful for testing purposes." "Thanks for the info!" Robert tells the receptionist, then he kisses his girlfriend on the cheek and says, "Are you sure you don't want to go into the Union Room with me, Rilli? You could be Crystal!" "I wouldn't want to take the last avatar for myself if I'm not going to trade," Mithril-rama explains, "Someone else who needs to trade a Pokemon might show up right after you go into the Union Room." "Good point," Robert admits, understanding Rilli's point but still a little disappointed that she won't be joining him. "I'll try to make the trade quickly so we can go visit Andrew afterward." "I'll take a seat over there while you trade," says Mithril-rama, pointing to a couch next to a table in the corner of the room, "I see the most recent copy of 'Pokemon Breeder Monthly' on the table there, so I'll be busy reading that." "Sounds like a plan to me! See you later, Rilli!" That said, Robert heads through the door next to the receptionist's desk. He enters a dark room where he sees a few Trainers wearing VR headsets and gloves. One Trainer is walking in place, another is reaching for an imaginary belt, and another seems to be talking to himself. Robert walks past these Trainers to an unoccupied machine that has a headset and gloves attached to it by wires. He dons the headset and places his hands in the gloves. He slips his Pokepedia into the Pokedex slot on the machine, but the machine spits it out, saying, "Pokedex not recognized." Robert shrugs, puts his Pokepedia away, and starts transferring the Pokeballs on his belt into the machine. Once he places the last Pokeball that was on his belt, the one containing the Charizard he plans on trading to "Zafiro", into the machine, Robert inserts the Leaf Disk he received earlier into a slot on the machine. A screen emerges from Robert's headset, lowering into view in front of Robert's face, then all of a sudden Robert finds himself in a virtual room full of Pokemon Trainers. One male Trainer is walking towards a female one, a couple of male Trainers are having a Pokemon battle, and another set of Trainers are having a conversation in the corner of the Union Room. "Zafiro?" Robert asks out loud, hoping to find the virtual representation of the Trainer in Hoenn he wants to trade with. Noticing his voice is much more high-pitched than usual, Robert looks down and sees that he's sporting a female body. The Leaf avatar is wearing a white hat, a blue halter top, a belt with six Pokeballs on it, an orange skirt, blue socks, and white shoes with red buckles. "Wow... I look nice!" Robert laughs to himself and hears the laughter as giggling. He pulls back the long light brown hair in front of his avatar's face and starts walking around the Union Room, looking for "Zafiro". -Robert