Subject: Re: [PW!] [NC] Bottled Rockets (Continuation of Aerie's Curse) Date: Sat, 10 Apr 1999 15:27:34 -0700 From: Adrian Tymes <wingcat@soca.com> Organization: Pacific Bell Internet Services Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Mobius101 wrote: > Transforming again, this time into a large Charizard, he smashed the Nidoqueen > into a wall. "CHARRRR!!!" He leered at the fainted Pokemon, still tossing it > around. > > Terrified, Meowth huddled in a corner. "Seth, snap outta it!" > > "STOP!" Giovanni barked, attempting to recall the fallen Nidoqueen. > > Seth turned on Giovanni in a blind rage. He bared his fangs and spread his > wings. He didn't care whether he should or not, but he meant to teach the man > to respect his power one way or another. Leaving all reason behind, Seth leapt > at Giovanni, ready to rip him to pieces. Giovanni sunk into the wall, handily avoiding Seth's rage. *That* got Seth's attention. "Char?" Giovanni's head stuck out, as if he were in the middle of some hologram. "Fool," he chuckled. "I am the master of this place. I have spent years studying its secrets, and it obeys me, now. Mere Rockets might be defeated, but you will never defeat this bottle. Not in time, anyway." "Meowth...? In time for what?" His eyes flicked to the feline pokemon. "If there is one thing I have learned over the years, alternately fending off Doppler and Mimic, it is that it is nearly impossible to kill them. Seth here possesses the same qualities. I had hoped to control him, but alas, it seems my efforts were doomed before they started." "You've got that right!" Seth let off a blast of fire, which Giovanni avoided just in time by fully entering the wall. "Nobody controls me. Now, where are my parents?" Giovanni's voice echoed from everywhere and nowhere. "They are aboard. Find them if you can. They were bait, and they remain such, for I know you will not voluntarily leave without them." "Meowth's gotta bad feeling about this..." "GIOVANNI! COME BACK HERE!" Seth clawed at the walls, but to no effect. Even the Nidoqueen was gone, absorbed like Giovanni when no one was looking. "Seth, I think we'd better get outta here." Seth stared Meowth down. "Not without my parents. He's right; I'm not leaving..." "...the planet Earth?" Seth blinked. "I heard some rumors, of how Giovanni'd cracked the control codes to this place. You know this was supposed to be one half of the spaceship that brought the foist pokemon to Earth? There's Clefairies all around here, Seth. But there never used to be any near the bottle. They were all attracted to the Moon Stone, the other half. If they're here, that can only mean Giovanni's reassembled the ship. And he wouldn't do that unless he were plannin' to take off." As if on cue, the bottle rumbled. ****** Jessie, Aerie, and 'Meowth' braced themselves against the unexpected rumbling. "What was that...?" 'Meowth' growled. "That fool. That unmitigated, arrogant, idiotic..." "Meowth?" He noticed both women looking at him strangely. "Eh heh...err...hey, Jessie, gotta surprise for you." "Oh? What's that?" "You know how you used to keep sayin', 'Team Rocket's blastin' off again'? Well, guess what?" Jessie blinked. 'Meowth' counted to himself. #3...2...1...# "WE'RE TAKING OFF?!?!?!?!?" "Uh-huh. We'd better hoirry and find everyone if we want to get off while we're still in the atmosphere." ****** Maria and James clung tightly to each other. They wanted to ask each other what the rumbling was, but one glance at the other's face told them that the other was equally clueless, and scared. As close to the mirrored surface of the walls as they were, they made eye contact equally well with each other as they did with the reflections. Indeed, their cell had recently shrunken - taking away the door in the process - so that all around them were multiple Marias and Jameses, each one keeping from cracking under stress by burying him or her self deeper into that one's mate. Except for two particular reflections. These stood, unperturbed by the panic that existed solely in Maria's and James' minds, and watched their originals with...pity? Relief? It was so hard to tell... "If you leave here, you will not die." Maria blinked. The other James had spoken, but the James she was holding as though her life depended on it had said nothing. "Please, Mother, Father...take Slasher's tail. It'll be alright." And then Slasher was in front of them, but not the Slasher they knew. He was still a Persian, of course, but he wore wrinkles of age that should not have appeared for at least another decade or two. "Please. I will not let you die this time." Hesitantly, Maria and James reached out for Slasher's tail, then gripped it as firmly as they gripped each other. The grasps were painful, and this was reflected on Slasher's face. But the pokemon did not let a single whimper of protest escape, instead just merging into the bottle, dragging Maria and James with him. 'James' smiled. "And Giovanni thought he was the only one who could do this..." "He *was*," 'Maria' corrected. "C'mon, we've got to play this through." She crouched down in the exact position she had seen Maria in, and adopted her expression. 'James' tried to follow suit, but could not get his face to show fear. "How do you do that?" "Imagine what it's going to feel like, to die. It'll hurt, I bet." The face of 'James' matched his original's in short order. ****** All around the base of the Diet Coke Bottle From Heck (evolved form), Clefairies and Clefables looked up in awe. The ground shook as if thousands of Earthquake attacks had been unleashed in the same spot at the same time. No flame was visible, for at this stage, the bottle used highly pressurized carbon dioxide as its propellant. Not that any flame would have been easily visible, amongst the clouds of dust that now tumbled off of the bottle. Slowly, almost magestically, the bottle rose from Mount Moon. Everywhere on the Pokemon Islands, people looked; the ascent was easily visible even to those towns outside audible range of the blastoff. Then a great cheer arose, from every Rocket base and several of the field teams. For, as it turned out, Doppler was wrong about the number of Rockets who had forgotten Team Rocket's dream. Most had, but more than a few had not... And, alone in his lab, Professor Oak opened a drawer that had been shut for more than 30 years, ever since he became disgusted with the focus on support through theft rather than science. Carefully, reverently, he withdrew a tiny red "R" pin, and smiled. ****** Somewhere in the bottle, a team of Rockets monitored a jury-rigged bridge. The systems had been cobbled together through experimentation to interface with the bottle; the whole aesthetic had a Star Wars meets scrapyard feel. Most of the walls were taken up with displays of various kinds; only the doors, and a patch of wall near what looked like a captain's chair, were spared. Giovanni entered through the blank wall. One of the others jumped. "Geez, sir!" Giovanni raised an eyebrow. "I know it spooks you, but we no longer have time for you to get acclimated. What's our status?" "All systems nominal, sir. We should achieve stable orbit in ten minutes." Giovanni smiled. "Good. How is the 'disposal system'?" "Primed and ready to go, just like the last three times you asked today, sir." He nodded. "I know, it must seem odd that I worry so much about that one system, no? But this trip is more than just a maiden voyage. There is something I wish to put into orbit - three somethings, in fact - and I believe they are all on board. That system is crucial to leaving them behind when we return to Earth." "Sir? If I might ask, what is our cargo?" "Three things capable of many tasks. But the one task they can not perform, is to separate themselves. They can not leave a piece of themselves behind. And, without that, they can not act as a rocket. There is no way they can leave orbit, once stranded there." He chuckled. "You know what a pain Mimic and Doppler have been. Today, they...and their kin..." Giovanni was very careful not to say 'Seth', as he knew a few of his crew still regarded Seth as human out of ignorance of the past month's discoveries. "...cease to be a problem." The sound that next came from him ranked a 9.5 on the Evil Mastermind Diabolical Laughter scale, mainly because it quickly spread to his crew. TBC? > ::picks up a Pepsi bottle and tags Adrian with it:: ^.^;;; > > ....Yes, all Pokemon originated in Diet Coke. Duh. ^.^;;;;;;;;;;; <drinks a bottle of pokemon essence, then tags Maria with the empty>