From: "Clayton" <redneckdadd@yahoo.com> Subject: [PW!] The Test of Training Date: Friday, July 09, 2004 1:11 AM In the long grasses north of Slateport, a young man lays topless, his shirt lay underneath him. He was fairly deep in a meditatate trance while catching some of the sun's rays. A long leaf, running down the man's back twitches every so often in the gentle breezes of the day. His green-tinted skin appears to be suffering no ill effects to the extended exposure of the late afternoon light, in fact it seems to be almost looking healthier. A few meters away, a Medicham by the name of Thyme was doing some work of his own, namely guiding Bob through his meditations through its psychic abilities. Unlike the grass hybrid, Thyme opted for a more traditional meditative position, and closer to a building so that he wouldn't get accidently trampled. In another patch of longer grass, a boy and a Girafarig were doing some training. Raffy had decided that sitting around doing nothing was boring. So it was the alternative, helping Jeff by making sure he didn't get in too far over his head. With them was a Treecko, barely taller than the grasses they were in. Bob the Treecko, muck like the breeder not to far away was resting comfortably in the grass. Quite unlike the breeder though, this Bob was well aware of his surroundings, like for example, the Electrike scampering a few feet away. Since Jeff hadn't noticed it, Bob was content to laze in the grass. A slightly stronger rustle got the attention of Raffy, who casually looked in the direction of the rustling. A third and Jeff peered in that direction, almost eager to battle. However, the emerging Electrike looked little and curious. Not really wanting to hurt such a cute little thing, Jeff cautiously made a couple of moves to befriend it instead of the more traditional battle The Thunder Wave that followed didn't even give Jeff the chance to call out to anyone. Another pair of the electric stunning attacked downed the two pokemon close enough to help. Such a shock was the shock to the half-psychic that he forgot to call for help in his stunned surprise. Two figures emerged from the trees seconds after everyone was thoroughly paralyzed "Will this get the girl without a fight?" One asked "We shall see," was the second figure's blunt response. "We should get to our base of operations in Mauville before someone notices." "Indeed." ---------- All the while, Bob the Breeder was in a highly relaxed state trying to beat the Magma personality into submission once and for all. He trusted the psychic advice of Thyme, who sat a few meters away, since his group's survival, and possibly even his own was based on him not going berserk. This time, unlike many others, Bob just dropkicked the invading persona into mental unconsciousness. This allowed him even more free time to deal with the problem instead of just fighting it. Carefully, as not to trample new mental growth, he made his way to a place where at least metaphorically, the grass-type techinques that he knoew were stored. Unlike the other areas, this one was changing and warping at a rapid rate. Bloks and globs of stuff were falling eery which way, including up. It could almost look like a battle of dominance or a jigsaw puzzle attempting to put itself together. It looked interesting, in a modern art sort of way "So this is what's ggoing on in my head" "Looks like it" a voice said, causing Bob to jump about 10 feet in the air. Because of it being a mindscape, the cliche became reality and the grass hybrid had a rough landing. "You sacred me! So what brings you here Thyme?" "Seeing how you were doing," Thyme answered simply. "Ah," Bob replied ever so elegantly as they watched the data shuffle around a bit. "You know, I think that this is the data that tose bastards drilled into my head. I think it's trying to settle but can't." Bob said after a long pause. "Perhaps, and that may be the key to dealing with the invader for good." "Maybe ..." And then Bob groaned in the real world, shaking him out of his meditative state. The stiffness of laying down for too long had caught up with him. Stretching a bit, and putting his shirt on carefully as not to shred it like others in the past, Bob stood up to survey his surroundings. Of noticeable absence was Jeff and Raffy. Scanning the area carefully, he didn't find a trace of his younger brother and first pokemon. Dismissing it as just having to go back to the Pokemon Center and not wanting to bother him, Bob headed back to the Pokemon Center "But wouldn't Raffy just *love* a chance to annoy me like that?" The breeder asked nobody in particulay Thyme shrugged while keeping in step with Bob. About dusk, Bob and Thyme retuned to the Pokemon Center, still wondering if his brother is safe. Probably the older sibling complex that all kids have. But something in his grass-type gut was telling him that something was wrong. Either that or it was a bad hamburger. The door openned with a minimum of noise or flourish, just the tinkling of a bell. Bob's hopeful look faded when he saw Alex with conflicting emotions roll across her face while Ben and Sutur attempted to calm her. Nori and Rubix looked like they were expecting an insane psychic at any moment. The others weren't as readable but it was clear that something was wrong. TBC ------- Clayton Random Tagline: Ultimate Desparation Attack -- Lecherous Demon Summoning Attack [NS: Wonder what happened, aside from a kidnapping and a kid napping?]