From: "Rob" <robfrompw@yahoo.com> Subject: [PW!] Free At Last Date: Thursday, January 01, 2004 7:32 PM The way the winds blow, volcanic ash is never blown in the direction of Verdanturf Town. The air is clean and delicious there. Living there should do wonders for even frail and sickly people. Such was the reasoning when an Asylum for people with serious mental problems was built there. One of these people, Elsa of Rustboro City, has lived in the Asylum for eight years, ever since she was ten years old. Elsa, a short, thin girl with green eyes and frizzy long brown hair sits on the plain white bed in the room with padded walls she's been living in for ten years. She's wearing a golden anklet and the green gown that females in Verdanturf Town's Mental Asylum are given to wear when they're not dangerous or suicidal enough to warrant a straight-jacket. Besides the bed, only a desk and a chair decorate the room. There's no view of the outside world - light pours into the room from the hallway just outside through a shatterproof window on the room's only door. Elsa hates her room. Throughout the eight long years that she's spent in the Asylum, she's been given Pokemon dolls and toys to play with. They would even let her decorate her room with things that most children would love to play with - a slide, a cute TV modeled in the image of a Skitty, even mats that play varying musical notes when stepped on. However, Elsa was never truly pleased with these diversions since all she really wanted was to travel the world and train Pokemon. Today, her padded room having been cleaned out yesterday, after her 18th birthday, Elsa waits in anticipation for someone to call her to let her know that her papers have been authorized by whoever is responsible for declaring people sane enough to leave the Asylum. She's gotten used to sitting alone in silence, ever since she was little, since her parents didn't talk with her much and she didn't have any friends growing up. In the Asylum, she could talk with the other patients during and after their group sessions or on scheduled trips to the Asylum's garden, but she would keep to herself during these activities, thinking that the other patients were too insane to have pleasant conversations with. When her psychiatrist, Dr. Richards, knocks on the door to her room, Elsa rises to her feet to greet him and says, "Come in." Dr. Richards walks into the room holding a clipboard. He's a tall man with black hair who's wearing a white lab coat, white shirt, red tie, khaki pants, and brown shoes. "Good news, Elsa, you're one interview away from being released from this place!" "That's good to hear!" Elsa smiles, hoping that her freedom will be granted soon, "Who will be interviewing me?" "The Asylum's Warden," Dr. Richards says, "Every patient has to show..." "When?" Elsa interrupts, eager to leave her prison, "Soon, I hope." "Very soon. I came here to take you to his office." "Good, let's go." Dr. Richards isn't surprised that Elsa is so eager to leave - all of his patients are. He walks out of the room and starts walking down one of the Asylum's many white hallways, ignoring the paranoid rambling and delusional screaming coming from patients in the rooms he walks past. As she follows Dr. Richards down the hallway, Elsa can't resist peeking through the windows on the doors of the patients' rooms. She feels sorry for them - during her eight years in the Asylum, she's always considered herself the most normal, well-adjusted patient at the Asylum and she likes validating her theory by spying on the behaviors of the others. Glancing through one of the windows, Elsa sees a patient wearing a white straight jacket sitting in the corner of his room, rocking back and forth while repeating to himself, "Great Balls are great. Great Balls are great. Great Balls are great. Great Balls are great..." The crazed face of another patient is pressed up against another window. He apparently stole some woman's lipstick, because he has red circles drawn on each of his cheeks. He screams, "LET ME OUT OF HERE! I need to save the world! The Doomsday Saga is upon us, and I'm the only one who can save us! We're all going to die unless you release me from here right this instant! You, girl, let me out! Don't you know who I am? You have to have heard of me! My name's Icy and I need to save the day! Tell them they have to let me out... TELL THEM! ARE YOU LISTENING TO ME?!" Elsa quickens her pace to walk past the delusional man's cell, "Is that man's name really Icy? I've never heard of a man named Icy." "Oh, no, he just thinks his name is Icy," Dr. Richards explains, "Icy is actually a human-turned-Pikachu who runs a Bug Gym in Kanto's Viridian Forest. In recent years, he's been publishing novels about his adventures in Kanto. The man you saw read one too many of them." After Dr. Richards explains this, the screaming of another deranged man catches her attention, "I am the BIFF-master, master of all things BIFF! Let me out or I'll have my Pidgeot with Ho-oh DNA use Sacred Fire! Certainspeed4, I choose you! Show these morons a lesson!" Elsa wonders what would drive anyone to such depths of insanity as she follows Dr. Richards around a corner and into the Warden's office. The Warden is an overweight bald man sitting on a chair behind a very elegant pine desk. Dr. Richards takes a seat in one of the two blue armchairs placed in front of his desk and Elsa sits in the other. "Elsa, right?" The Warden asks in his deep voice. Elsa nods, then the Warden tells Dr. Richards, "Give me her chart." Dr. Richards does as he's told then the Warden looks over the record that has been written on Elsa's condition over the eight years she's spent here. "MPD, huh? It says here you haven't had an episode in five months. Is this true?" "Yes, sir." Elsa nods, "And before my episodes stopped, I had started only becoming Wanda, who I'm told is my most harmless personality." The Warden reads notes written on Wanda, one of Elsa's personalities, "Calm, easy to work with, doesn't cause problems. Yes, I'd say she's harmless. And now it appears that she's gone too. To be honest, we would've had this interview three months ago, Elsa, but when we called you parents in Rustboro, they told us to keep you here. Since you just became a legal adult, it's now your decision whether you think you should stay here or not. Do you think you're ready to be released?" "Yes, sir!" Elsa exclaims then her lips curve into a smile, "I've been cured, thanks to Dr. Richards, and I'm ready to face the world! I've been waiting eight years to start my Pokemon Journey and I couldn't because of my problem, but now I'm very eager to start!" "Where are you going to get your first Pokemon?" "I'm thinking of paying Professor Birch a visit, like I planned to when I was ten and my parents didn't let me." "Are you going to visit your parents?" "Eventually, I will, I guess." Elsa shrugs, "I just don't think they'd want to see me out now since they didn't want to see me out when I got better months ago." "Are you feeling bitter or resentful towards them or anyone here?" "No, they sent me here because they care about me, even if they don't always show it. And the doctors here have been a real help." "Are you certain that you won't have another episode of MPD?" "Pretty certain..." Elsa admits her doubts, "I might have some residual episodes later, but considering the treatments I've received and what I've learned here, I doubt they'll be very intense or last very long." "Will you return to the Asylum if you ever have another episode?" "..." Elsa pauses, thinking that she never wants to return to Verdanturf Town's Asylum, or even Verdanturf Town, again. Figuring the first answer that comes to her mind might delay her departure, she lies, "Yes, sir." "Then we're done here." The Warden extends his hand to shake Elsa's, "I deem you sane enough to be released." Elsa shakes his hand, her smile having grown wider the moment she heard the good news, "Thank you! Thank you very much, you won't regret your decision!" After shaking Elsa's hand, the Warden puts his signature on a document attached to the clipboard he's holding and hands it back to Dr. Richards, "Take her to the dressing room then show her to the exit." Dr. Richards nods, "Very well. Follow me to your freedom, Elsa." Elsa and Dr. Richards take their leave of the Warden. As she follows Dr. Richards to the Asylum's dressing room, Elsa says, "See, doctor? I told you I've gotten better! I'm so happy right now, if this had happened last year, I would have fallen into my Kizzy personality by now and would've started doing cartwheels down the halls!" Dr. Richards tells Elsa, "I know you've gotten better. I wouldn't have recommended you for release if I wasn't so sure of your recovery." Within a minute, they arrive in a room with two clothing racks, two shoe shelves, one box full of bags, and two changing rooms. One side of the room has clothing and shoes for males while the other has clothing and shoes for females. "This is the dressing room, your last stop before being released." Dr. Richards explains, "Many of our patients grow old here, like you, and the clothes they wore when they got here don't fit them anymore on their way out. You can choose one shirt, one pair of pants, one pair of shoes, and an accessory of your choice from either side of the room." Elsa browses through many of the shirts available on the female clothing rack. She contemplates taking a long-sleeved yellow shirt or a purple tank top, but she finally selects a green tank top to match the color of her eyes. Moving on to the pants, she quickly finds a pair of black capri pants that she likes. Next, she rummages through the bags in the accessories bin. She likes a small leather purse in the bin, but she eventually decides to go with a larger, and more practical, brown fanny pack that is very popular among female Pokemon Trainers in Hoenn. Finally, Elsa looks through the female shoe shelf. She figures her best bet is to get sneakers, since she plans to walk a whole lot on her Pokemon Journey, but none of the ones available catch her attention. What does catch her attention, however, is a pair of black pumps with two inch heels. "Too bad I'll be walking so much. Oh well, I think I'll try them on just for fun." She pulls the black pumps off the rack, drops them on the floor, and slides her feet into them. She walks back and forth, a surprised look on her face, "Wow, they're so comfortable!" Dr. Richards comments, "Yeah, those black pumps are the shoes of choice of female police officers named Jenny. They look very stylish, but they're very comfortable and the heels are made thick enough so the officers don't trip when chasing down thugs who try to escape." "Well, if they're good enough for the police force, they're good enough for me!" Elsa carries the clothing she selected into the female changing room. A moment later, Elsa steps out, now wearing the green tank top, black capri pants, brown fanny pack, her golden anklet, and the comfortable black pumps that make her look two inches taller than she really is. "How do I look, doctor?" "Like you're ready to go - you look great! Right this way..." The doctor leads Elsa to the Asylum's exit. Standing in the vestibule leading out of the building, Dr. Richards shakes Elsa's hand and says, "It's been a pleasure meeting you and helping you get better, Elsa. I wish you good luck on your Pokemon Journey! The best route to Professor Birch's Lab is east to Mauville, south until you see Route 103, then west on Route 103 to Oldale Town. Littleroot and Birch's Lab are just south of there." "Thank you, doctor, for everything!" Elsa hugs Dr. Richards, knowing she might never see him again since she doesn't plan on returning to Verdanturf Town. After hugging him, she finally walks out of the Asylum, onto Verdanturf Town's lush green grass. The air is clean and delicious outside. Elsa basks in the sunlight, rejoicing in her freedom. -Elsa