From: "Rob" <robfrompw@yahoo.com> Subject: [PW!] The Spa Treatment Date: Tuesday, July 20, 2004 8:49 PM "Mmmm... harder..." Elsa smiles when the trained Team Aqua masseuse assigned to her begins to knead her shoulders. The smiling brown-haired girl is lying chest-down on a massage table, a towel covering her rear end but not much else. Throughout her day in the Team Aqua Spa, she's been trying to formulate a way to escape from the organization that she joined when one of her alternate personalities, namely Wanda, took control of her body. However, at this point in the afternoon, she's stopped worrying about that completely and now she's just enjoying the relaxation techniques being employed on her. "Lower and to the left..." "Like this?" asks the female massage therapist who's trying as best she can to please the teenage girl she's treating. "Oh yeah, that hits the spot." Elsa sighs due to her satisfaction. She closes her eyes and rests her head on her arms, which she's folded in front of her. She loses herself in the massage at that moment, forgetting all her problems, and when the massage is finally over, she truly feels like an entirely different person. When the brown-haired girl lifts her head up to look at the blonde woman who's been massaging her for the past few minutes, she says, "Hey, like... thanks for the massage and everything... but I'm curious about one thing." Expecting a frequently asked question, the masseuse remarks, "You want to know what kind of oils I use, right? I have a variety of oils and creams I choose from based on what kind of massage I'm giving and to who I'm giving it to. The one I used on your shoulders, however, was a light massage oil that's a blend of various oils. It's mainly based on Grepa Seed oil, though. It soaks quickly into the skin, moisturizing it without making it feel greasy." "Oh, cool... My question was more along the lines of 'where am I?', but whatever - if you'd rather keep telling me about your massage oils, go right ahead." Not sure if the Aqua Grunt's comment was a sarcastic remark or just a lame attempt at telling a joke, the masseuse isn't sure whether she should keep talking about oils or shut her mouth. She ultimately decides to answer what the girl claimed her original question was, "You're in the Forsaken Ship Aqua Base... the Massage Parlor in the Base's Spa, to be exact. Why do you ask, Wanda?" "Oh, don't worry about it," Wanda answers the question addressed to her, having full control of Elsa's body, "I just, like... zone out every once in a while, forgetting where I am and what I'm doing and stuff. I'll all come back to me eventually, I'm sure... but enough about me - tell me more about your oils." Though she wouldn't normally mind conversing for a while after a massage, Wanda's sudden memory lapse and the casual attitude Wanda takes towards it disturb the masseuse to the point where she looks down at her watch and says, "Sorry, Wanda, I'd really love to chat but I have to give another massage in a couple of minutes. I'll leave the room now so you can get dressed in private. Bye!" "Oh, sure, no problem - bye!" Wanda waves to the blonde woman as she rushes out of the room. Though she does want to ask the masseuse where her Roselia and Mudkip are, she doesn't want to interrupt the woman's busy schedule in order to do so, even if it would only be for a few seconds. "I'm sure they'll turn up eventually," Wanda comments to herself before wrapping the towel she's lying on around her body and heading into the nearby dressing room. A few minutes later, Wanda emerges from the dressing room wearing a green tank top, a brown fanny pack, black capri pants, a golden anklet, and black pumps. Though she does momentarily wonder where her Team Aqua uniform ended up, she doesn't really care since she prefers the outfit she's wearing now to the standard Team Aqua outfit anyway. Now that she's dressed, Wanda leaves the massage room and starts wandering aimlessly around the Spa, looking for something interesting to occupy her time. She wanders into the room nearest to the Massage Parlor, and within it she finds five tubs filled with mud that are large enough for people to sit in. While none of the tubs are currently being used by people, one Mudkip is very much enjoying his mud bath in the largest of the tubs. "Oh, hey, Mudkip," says Wanda, waving to her Water Pokemon as she walks to the tub of mud he's swimming in. "I hope you're enjoying your mud bath. Just let me know when you're ready to go, kay?" While she doesn't remember what she was doing right before she got her Mudkip, much the same way that she doesn't remember what she was doing right before she got her massage, Wanda remembers very clearly the exact moment she received Mudkip... *** Flashback *** Wanda inwardly wonders why a female Machamp is using all four of her arms to restrain her, why a leering female Kadabra wearing a Pink Bow has a Twisted Spoon pointed menacingly at her forehead, and why the brown-haired Professor standing before her looks so angry. Before she can ask any of her questions, Professor Birch comments, "Look, Elsa... or Fiona... or whoever you are... threats and random acts of violence won't make my shipment of Torchic Eggs come in any sooner. Please be reasonable - calm yourself down and accept either a Treecko or a Mudkip, or else I'll be forced to report you to the proper authorities. You should be glad I haven't already called the police, considering what you just said and..." "Wai-wai-wai-wai-wait..." interrupts Wanda, holding the palms of her hands up at Professor Birch, "You're telling me I can get a Mudkip from you... one of my favorite Water Pokemon in the whole wide world... free of charge? No strings attached?" Professor Birch squints one eye at Wanda, wondering if he should really give a Pokemon to a person who's clearly not mentally stable. "What? Is there a catch I'm missing or something?" The Professor crosses his arms before telling Wanda, "You just spent the last few minutes demanding a Torchic. You even behaved violently and threatened me." "Oh yeah? I must've been kidding and stuff... uh, yeah, that was probably it. Sorry about that, sometimes I lose track of what I'm doing." Wanda lets out a nervous laugh, worried that her most recent admission might prevent the Professor from giving her a Mudkip, "But I promise you I'd take really, really good care of the Mudkip, no matter what. No joke." "I don't know..." Professor Birch turns to face his green-haired bespectacled assistant, who's standing near the Professor to protect his mentor in the event that the visiting brown-haired girl breaks free of the Machamp's grasp, and asks, "What do you think? Should we let her have the Mudkip after all she just said?" "Well, if there's one thing I've learned from Famifax, it's that just because someone gets angry and lashes out sometimes, it doesn't mean they're a bad person..." The lab assistant strokes his chin and looks at Wanda, sizing her up. Noticing the pure and innocent look on her face, he says, "I believe this girl is a good person at heart, and I think she's being sincere when she says she'll take good care of Mudkip. Even the best of us go a little crazy sometimes, Professor. I say we should release a Mudkip and let him decide whether he wants to travel with her or not. Pokemon are usually better at judging the essence of people than humans are." "That's a great idea! We'll do just that." Professor Birch rummages around his white lab coat's pockets until he withdraws a Pokeball. He pushes the button on the Pokeball, releasing a small blue Mudkip who immediately starts gnawing at an itch on one of his forelegs. Addressing the Machamp restraining Wanda, Birch says, "Please put her down, Xerox." Noticing that the Kadabra is still threatening the girl with her spoon, Birch adds, "And please lower your spoon, Famifax." The Kadabra does as instructed, but doesn't stop leering at the teenager. Once Wanda is free of physical and mental danger, the Professor tells her, "Call to Mudkip and see if he likes you enough to play with you. If he does, you can keep him. If he doesn't, I can't, in good conscience, let you keep him." "Hey there, little Mudkip," Wanda says, catching the attention of the Water Pokemon standing in front of Birch, who tilts his head towards her. "So... like... want to come over here? You really don't have to, but it would be great if you did. Because then you'd get to come along with me and I'd like that and stuff!" The Mudkip tilts his head the other way, contemplating what little he understood of what Wanda just said. After a few seconds, he scurries over to her, stops short, and sniffs her golden anklet a few times. Once he's familiarized himself with Wanda's scent, the Mudkip starts hopping up and down in front of her, putting his front paws on her black capri pants each time he jumps, wanting Wanda to pick him up. *** End of Flashback *** It's at this point that Wanda looks down to notice that her Mudkip is jumping up and down in front of her the same exact way he did when they first met... except this time, he's covered in mud and he's splattering it all over her black capri pants. Wanda shrugs, commenting, "At least my pants aren't white..." "THERE you are!" A familiar voice calls out to Wanda from the entrance to the Mud Bath Room, "Your Roselia and I have been looking all over the Spa for you!" Wanda turns around to see a pink-haired, blue-eyed woman in an Aqua Grunt uniform approaching her, then she looks down to see that a Roselia, the one she met for the first time in Littleroot Town's Pokemon Center after receiving Mudkip, is walking beside the woman. Wanda casually waves at the Aqua Grunt, saying, "Oh, hi, Mari... Are you here to get a free massage too?" While she's a bit annoyed that Wanda doesn't appear excited to see that she survived being kidnapped by Team Magma, Mariana doesn't like revealing her feelings and knows very well that Wanda is the kind of person who doesn't get very excited about things. "No, Wanda, I came here looking for you. I found your Roselia getting an Aguav facial in the other room and told her to help me find you. You and I have a very important mission to go on..." "Oh, cool. Let's go, then." "I'd like to tell-" Mariana stops talking for a few seconds, blinks once, then asks, "Don't you want to know what the mission is about?" "Huh?" Wanda shrugs. "Oh, yeah, if you want to tell me, sure." "I can't tell you about it yet," Mariana explains, "The information surrounding this mission hasn't been declassified for Novitiate Grunts." "Kay then, I don't need to know, anyway." Wanda smiles at the woman she met on Littleroot Pier who recruited her into Team Aqua and says, "Now lead the way to our secret mission!" -Elsa