From: "William Rendfeld" <warendfeld@aol.com> Subject: [PW!] Facts and Fallacies Date: Thursday, June 03, 2004 11:15 PM Facts and Fallacies Click. Click-click-click-click. Within the peaceful confines of the Dewford Town Pokémon Center, Alexandria Masters silently sat and typed at a keyboard, quietly researching the Internet for information relating to incidents in her life. Her Pokémon were fully healed from their adventures earlier on in the day, her supplies were fully restocked, and her belly was full thanks to good food. Now, however, she was hungering for something else. With a yawn and a stretch of his wings, ShadowWarrior the Murkrow fluttered up to his trainer's shoulder and said, "Ah, the feeling of success. I feel great about the Gym Battle, don't you?" "Hm-hmm," Alex murmured in reply. "In afterthought, though, I probably could've used Haze to get rid of the paralysis," the ebon-winged Pokémon noted. "Still, I'm not complaining. We won, didn't we? And I'm just fine, no problems." "Hm-hmm," Alex murmured again. The bird equivalent to a grin crossing his beak, ShadowWarrior then suggested, "Y'know, I was thinking of going somewhere to celebrate the victory, say Hoot-Hoot's..." "Over my dead and decaying corpse," was Alex's quick response. She gave the small bird a sideways glance, then said, "I'm many things, ShadowWarrior, but I'm not inattentive." "I know, I was just making sure," ShadowWarrior replied. "So, whatcha up to?" In a low whisper, Alex explained, "Back at the Gym, Rubix told me something about Nori being involved in the death of a Pokémon. I'm just trying to figure out as much as I can about the incident." "You sure you want to do that?" ShadowWarrior asked. "The two of you are on thin ice as it is. Besides, she doesn't look like the type to kill anything, Pokémon or otherwise." "I agree," Alex replied. "That's why I'm checking up on her. I've been looking through the online archives at the Celadon Tribune, but so far I haven't found anything." Alex brought up another result on her search, then grinned in victory. "Bingo, found it. Take a look." ShadowWarrior narrowed his eyes as he read the headline. "'Pokémon murdered near Viridian Gym; Team Rocket suspected.' Kind of a given around that time, isn't it?" "Yeah, kinda," Alex replied. "According to the article, a party of Pokémon trainers was attacked by a lone agent of Team Rocket and their Pokémon. During the struggle, a Mr. Mime belonging to Sarah Jane Eckert of Rosetta Town was viciously attacked and murdered by the agent's Dodrio. After the murder, the wounded Dodrio was recalled to its Poké Ball and retreated, the agent's Wartortle following." "Three guesses who that was," ShadowWarrior replied. "They didn't go after Nori?" "Apparently not," Alex responded. "It's not my place to pry for those details from her, either. But from the way it looks, she didn't purposely order for the Mr. Mime's death. And the way Cass and Nori have talked about Cerberus, and from what we saw at the Silver Conference, he may have acted on his own." "True," ShadowWarrior noted. "But what can we do at this point?" "Nothing except make sure Nori doesn't know that we know, not for now anyway," Alex replied. She shut down the browser just as her cell phone rang. She retrieved the device and answered, "Yes?" "Alex, it's Cass," her elder sister replied on the other end. "Are you near a TV?" "Yeah, why?" Alex asked. "Turn on the Pokémon News Network, and hurry," Cass urged. Alex looked at her phone in surprise, then rose to her feet and turned towards her traveling companions before asking, "Hey guys, could you turn on PNN for a minute?" Those at the television, namely Nori, her Pokémon, and Carol, looked to Alex in surprise. "What's the matter, something life-threatening?" Nori asked sarcastically. "Humor me," Alex pleaded. Nori sighed, then changed the channel. The TV quickly flipped to PNN as the announcer continued, "...the first jailbreak today at the Verdanturf Penitentiary was mostly a freeing of various Pokémon held there by a group referred to as the 'Pokémon Rebellion'." As Nori raised an eyebrow in curiosity, Alex walked up to the two other girls, paying close attention to the footage. "According to eyewitnesses, the three operatives for the organization included a scarred woman with shaggy hair like that of a Mightyena, a shiny Machamp, and a human with unusual abilities referring to himself by the name 'Doppler'. Whether this individual is related to the infamous Doppler of Kanto remains questionable." "So Doppler's started up a new movement?" Nori posed. "Well, I might have another crack at helping him after all." "You sure that's him?" Carol asked. "I mean, I know Doppler's around in Hoenn, but I don't think he'd do stuff like this again." "That was him," Alex realized grimly. "Damn it all." With surprised looks from the other two women, Alex turned away and continued to the phone, "Has Aerie seen this?" "Not yet, but she already knows he's fallen in with his old crowd," Cass replied. "Mewtwo gave her the heads up. He was the one beckoning her to Meteor Falls." "Mewtwo?" Alex asked. "What's he doing in Hoenn?" "You got me, but he seems to think Aerie could fight him off given time," Cass replied. "Something wrong?" "We've got the two most powerful psychics in the world in Hoenn," Alex explained. "Sabrina's been tailing me since Rustboro. Apparently I've become an amusement for her." "I hope she gets bored with you," Cass replied. "How are things on your end?" "Complicated," Alex replied. "Good news; Jeff, John and I won the Knuckle Badge, and 'Tsunade' believes me now. Bad news; John's been captured by Team Magma, and I had another run-in with my hunters." "Oh crap," Cass replied. "But why would they want John?" "Something to do with his brothers," Alex replied. "I don't know much else. Sabrina was the only one dropping hints, and she didn't drop many." "And those hunters?" Cass asked. "They nearly shot me and 'Tsunade' before Carol showed up," Alex explained. "I knocked one out, interrogated the other. Seems they're bounty hunters; they're working for someone with a lot of money, I don't know much else. Only that the two that went after me here and at Rustboro were named Grand and Walter, and that they have two partners in crime." "Grand and Walter?" Cass asked incredulously. "That's not a positive sign." "Not one bit," Alex replied. "Mom's already said she's going to have someone meet me at Slateport concerning this, but I'm not counting on chance." "Wise," Cass noted. "Well, since we're investigating a Magma base up around here anyway, we'll see what they know concerning John and Smasher. We found his helmet, so maybe he'll be around here. Hopefully I'll keep Aerie from blowing this Magma base up. In the meantime, watch your back sis." "Thanks," Alex replied. "You too." She turned off the line and sighed. "One thing after another these days." TBC? [NS: Okay, Alex is back! Again!] William Rendfeld Creator of Echowarrior and Alex Masters 178,000 Excellent Author Points 1 'I knew odd pokefacts that confused a bread crumb' point. 20 Y2Tech Points