From: "William Rendfeld" <warendfeld@aol.com> Subject: [PW!] Searching for a Rescue Date: Wednesday, February 25, 2004 9:14 PM [Took me long enough...] Searching for a Rescue "Well, we made it," Cassandra Gale noted to the large group with her, unofficially the 'Search Party for Smasher', as the group entered Petalburg Woods. "I give you Petalburg Woods, just as I promised." "Looks like a shortcut actually turned out to work for once," a short, spiky-haired trainer by the name of Nori Mizuke noted sarcastically. Looking to the Larvitar held protectively in her arms, Nori assured her charge, "You'll be seeing Smasher again soon, Big Time." Big Time, despite his silence, hoped that Nori was correct. Despite her thoughts to the contrary, Smasher at least tried to be a friend to him, and he hoped to be reunited soon. As the large group of trainers and assorted others entered the Petalburg Woods, something seemed...off. "It's quiet," Alexandria Masters noted as she looked around the area. "Too quiet. Shouldn't we be hearing Taillow cries or Zigzagoon calls by now?" "Yeah," the muscular minoTauros Keaton noted. "This is just wrong. It's like they're all scared of something." Alex looked around a bit, her eyes and ears focusing on the area around them. With a slight chuckle, she called out to a small clump of bushes nearby and said quietly to the Murkrow on her shoulder, "Our tail's still here." ShadowWarrior, who had noticed their follower the previous evening, chuckled and whispered, "You think we should point him out?" "Nah," Alex noted. "He's not a problem, and I doubt he's going to be one." "<Unless he wants more food,>" a Combusken dubbed Surtur chipped in. "True," Alex replied. "Still, not a big deal." Raising her voice, she suggested, "Everyone, I think we should fan out. I've got a sneaking hunch that we're being watched, and not by something alive." The small group of ten fanned out as it further penetrated the forest. Taking a brief break, Cass fiddled with her PokéDex for a bit, switching in a replacement for Rose, her vain Vileplume, before continuing onward. "I don't think there's anything here," Derek Fisher noted, Chan the Medicham looking in a different direction. Noticing something, he asked, "Something wrong?" Chan responded by using his Ice Punch to create a small ball of ice, then chucking it at a branch in a nearby tree. The clang of ice hitting metal was quickly heard, and the damaged remains of a security camera fell to the ground. The group quickly noticed, ShadowWarrior flying over to inspect the damaged surveillance device. "Yep, it's a security camera. Probably a live feed, too." "Meaning that we're on someone's front doorstep," Alex noted. "Well, any idea who?" the young Aerie asked. "We're a little out of Team Rocket's jurisdiction," Alex noted. "That leaves the natives. It's either Team Aqua or Team Magma." The non Hoenn-native members of the party blinked, then asked simultaneously, "Who?" "Here in Hoenn there are two large organizations, Team Aqua and Team Magma," Cass quickly explained. "They call themselves ecology groups, but they're really nothing better than terrorists." "Aqua wants there to be more water, and Magma wants more land," Alex noted, summarizing the two groups' goals. "But why would either group be after this 'Bob' person?" Carol Ross asked, looking over the camera herself. Ben scratched the back of his head, then admitted, "Well, Team Magma did have an active interest in him the last time I saw him." Over a dozen pairs of eyes turned their attention to Ben just then. "You met him?" Kitsu quickly asked. "Yeah, just before the Silver Conference," Ben replied. "He'd been captured by Magma apparently, and three of his friends were trying to find him." "Who were they?" Keaton asked. "A rookie trainer with a Torchic named Sapphire, a Girafarig, and a Ditto," Ben replied. "The Girafarig's got to be Raffy," Aerie surmised. "He's one of Bob's most trusted Pokémon." "And I don't think we need to worry about this rookie," Alex noted. "And as for the Ditto, what was he, or she or whatever gender-based pronoun you give a shapeshifter, like?" "He was smart," Ben noted. "And he spoke strangely, like his speech was stunted somehow." The facts quickly clicked into place, and Alex, Aerie, Kitsu and Keaton said as one, "Mimic." "Whoa, he's down there?" Cass asked. "How many other intelligent Ditto can you think of?" Alex asked. Having remained silent throughout the exchange, John thought to himself, _I really need to get out more._ "Okay, obviously one of the two groups, most likely Magma, has Bob," Alex sorted out. "They may or may not have Mimic as well, and we just knocked out a security camera. That pained yell came from around here, ergo Bob and possibly Mimic and the Magmas are around us." "But where?" Ben asked. "It's not like they're floating overhead on a flying island." "You'd be surprised," Rubix the Blastoise dryly noted, Nori nodding in agreement. "Nah," Alex replied. "No way could you hide something that obvious, especially from at least two people with psychic abilities. I'm betting they're below us." "Underground, eh?" Cass noted as she knelt, feeling the earth beneath her with a free hand. "Sounds just like them. So, what now? I don't think anyone has a Diglett or a Dugtrio handy." "I don't think that'll be needed," Alex noted as she knelt down herself and opened a pouch on her bag. She quickly produced a small, silvery-blue device with a touchpad and activated it, scanning the area around them. "Just as I thought." "What's that?" Keaton asked. "Looks like a tricorder," Aerie noted. "It is," Alex replied. "The closest that Texas Instruments has gotten to one, anyway." The small device beeped, and she noted, "Just as I thought. Psionium alloy." "Psionium?" Nori asked with a raised eyebrow. "It's an alloy," Alex explained. "Composed of lead, iron, and a host of other metals and metalloids. Depending on how it's tempered, it can either absorb, amplify or block most forms of metaphysical assault, including telepathy. Only strong emotions or physical sensations like pain can pass through it. Also, psionium armor is usually composed of two layers; an outer blocking layer, and an inner amplification layer. The amplification layer is probably what helped us to pick up the pain from Littleroot." "So, what does it mean?" Nori asked. "It means they're below us," Alex replied as she put away her gadget. "The question now is how to get in. Cass, you have Jolt handy?" "I figured that we'd need him," Cass noted with a smile, pulling a single Poké Ball from her belt. She opened it, allowing a bright yellow and blue Manectric to exit. Upon his release, Jolt sat down and barked, "Nectric!" signaling that he was ready to receive orders. "Jolt, sniff around for anything unusual," Cass requested. "Nectric!" Jolt barked in reply, springing to his feet and starting to sniff around as the two girls rose to their feet. "You think he can find something?" John asked warily to Derek. "Let's just wait and see," Derek replied. Jolt continued sniffing around, until finally he found an unusual, unnatural smell on the ground. He quickly turned back to the group and barked, "Manectric!" "He's found something," Cass realized, rushing to the electric dog and surveying the ground. "But I don't see anything." Alex knelt down once more, and felt along the earth before her. "I'm feeling a small gap here. It's a straight line." She moved her fingers along the line, feeling a small gap in the ground." "Trap door?" Keaton asked. Surtur calmly walked onto the patch of earth in front of the group, then shook his head 'no'. "Maybe it's something else," Alex noted as Surtur stepped off the patch of ground before her. She dug her nails into the gap, and pulled on the piece of earth. The false piece of earth quickly revealed itself to be a long wooden plank, disguising a large pad wide enough to have about nine people stand on it in a small group. "A telepad," Aerie realized. "Looks like we found the front door," Derek noted. "Now how do we get in?" "It looks to be pressure sensitive," Alex noted. She stepped onto the pad and said, "I weigh about 130 lbs, so this thing must be designed for heavier weights." She stepped off, then asked, "So, who besides me, Surtur and ShadowWarrior is going in first?" TBC [NS: Any takers?] William Rendfeld Creator of Echowarrior, the Pokémon Resistance, and Alex Masters 178,000 Excellent Author Points 1 'I knew odd pokefacts that confused a bread crumb' point. 20 Y2Tech Points