From: Yosh1121 <yosh1121@aol.com> Subject: [PW!][Island] Hey! Where'd everybody go? Date: Friday, April 30, 1999 4:30 PM Oy, I missed one entire day of the newsgroup, and then I had to spend four entire days trying to catch up with everybody else -_-;;; And not only that, but now I feel like the person who came to the party an hour late after it was all over and has to pick his way through the entire mess... or am I thinking of a post-apopylyptic metaphor? ::sighs:: And as if it weren't enough, I wrote the majority of this post while listening to the big Willie's "Get Jiggy With it" over and over and over and well, you get the idea. And so, in total lack of a good intro, I decided, why stray off the beaten path? Ergh... need caffeine.. ~~~~~ In a fairly large complex, on a fairly medium sized island, in a PW! galaxy not really far far away... Fade in: A large deserted corridor. There are no lights on, the only source of luminosity are small translucent windows placed high up in the wall. The entire corridor has a dark, slasher-movie-shadowness mood lighting factor. A small almost unperceivable pinprick of light appeared at the furthest extent of the hallway. Eternally wavering, ever so delicately, the small red glare roamed down the expanse of the gloomy wall. Three roving figures could barely be made distinct against the dusky surroundings of the hallway, and the visibility factor for them was about as mutual. "Kind of a desolate place to open up a tourist attraction," Oz muttered, suddenly startled at the sound of his voice echoing back at him from down the vacant hall. He shifted the arm sling gently, so that it fitted more comfortably on his right shoulder. "Sandshrew shrew shrew" Sandshrew chittered back, sardonically. He glanced towards the appalling elongated shadows. As he watched, the black forms twisted and turned, as if it was pure evil itself being shifted into a horrid mass of gibberish. "Yeah, I know that," Oz said, in a lower voice this time, as he reached a room and checked inside it. Nothing but more ominous blackness. "But you'd think they'd put the windows a bit bigger or something. After all, it's supposed to be a friendly place. It's how tourism works. You don't put windows all up ten feet in the wall like a jail or something," Oz continued to ramble, trying to fill the unnerving dead silence that hung over the hallway. "Sandshrew" the little Pokémon commented rudely, but Oz ignored the remark, instead turning around to face the glum Charmander which followed sulkily behind the pair. It's depression was enough, it seems, that unlike his two companions it had managed quite easily to ignore the menacing shadows and stared at the floor as he walked, mourning for his previous trainer. That, and since his tail was the only source of light in the room, the shadows weren't as close to him as Oz and Sandshrew. Oz bent his knees and crouched down, resting on his haunches. "Hey, Charmy, thinking about Jeff?" Oz asked. "Charmander," the fire lizard nodded morosely. His love for the trainer obviously ran deep, and Oz admired that. "Look, don't worry. We will find him. It may take a while, but I'll help all I can, and there's not a doubt in my mind that we will find him." "Charr" Charmy said, looking up into Oz's bright green eyes hopefully. "Charmy, I will use every weapon in my power to find Jeff for you," Oz stated, starting to rattle on again, "I would climb the highest mountain! I would sail the largest ocean! From the four corners of the earth, to the darkest depths of the earth, I w-" Sharply interrupting Oz's speech, a sudden low intimidating rumble reverberated down the hallway. There was a long silence following that. Charmy stared at Oz. Oz sweat-dropped. "But unfortunately, it seems matters of the stomach have first priority," Oz stammered, while Sandshrew chuckled. * * * Eventually, Oz and the Pokémon found the dining room. Oz immediately ran over to the candy rack, and stuffed a couple of tons or two of it into his backpack. "I don't think anybody will mind," Oz said with a broad grin as he bit into a large candy bar. Soon he found a flashlight underneath the counter, and while ignoring Sandshrew's accusations of being a pack rat and other such things, he made his way through the swinging double doors into the kitchen, leaving Sandshrew and Charmy resting in the dining room. Although his eyes had accustomed to the murky darkness in the corridors, the darkness in the kitchen seemed to reach a new level. Oz turned on the flashlight, swinging it in wide arcs, taking in the details of the cold, abandoned kitchen. Nothing seemed unusual about the room. It just looked like any other industrial kitchen, pots and pans hanging everywhere, technical equipment here and there on the counters. He flicked on the light switch, but just like all the others, it was futile. The lights refused to turn on. Oz assumed that something was wrong with the electricity, although what? And more importantly, where was everybody? Oz made his way further into the kitchen, cautiously. He was startled by a loud clash behind him, where he had come in. Panicking, he swung the beam of light from his flashlight towards the door. In front of the swinging doors, squinting in the blinding light as the flashlight was focused on them, stood Sandshrew and Charmy. Oz sighed and tried to calm down as adrenaline raced through his system. Turning back around, calmer this time, he paused as the circular light came across a corner of something. Oz frowned. There was a brownish colored thing slumped near the counter. The luminous beam of light from Oz's flashlight trembled violently as it rose to center on what appeared to be a large Scyther carcass. And this Scyther had been boiled alive. It took about 5 seconds of staring for it to register fully just what Oz was looking at. In comparison, it only took him a second and a half to run outside through the emergency exit, and vomit into nearby bushes. While Oz was busy participating in the fonder matters of life, Sandshrew had managed to find some food. Ambling over to the door, Sandshrew held up a soggy cardboard box, and yelled, "Sandshrew!" Oz looked up at Sandshrew from the newly decorated plant, "Does it *LOOK* as if I care the ice cream's melted?!" Spotting the disgusting lime flavored mess dripping from a corner of the thin box, Oz leaned over, and barfed again. * * * After a little rest, and refilling his stomach, some of the color was returning to Oz's face and he was beginning to feel better. Thoroughly sick of the complex, Oz was determined to get out of the place. As luck would have it, Sandshrew found a map, and within no time, the trio made its way down into the basement, or as the map stated, the "garage". The garage was as pitch black as the kitchen had been and the flashlight's pitiful illumination seemed even more futile. With the minuscule seeming beam of light, Oz could scarcely make out that they were on a large boarding platform, that was elevated a couple of feet next to an extended tunnel. Looking down at his map, Oz could see that the tunnel did in fact lead outwards. Turning the flashlight the opposite way, Oz found a large alcove. In it, were rows and rows of small, compact automobiles. "Boys, that's our ticket out of here." Oz declared as he hopped off the platform and walked to the alcove, with Sandshrew and Charmy in close tow. He was pleased to find out that the vehicles did not require a key to operate, and wasted no time in turning one on, and hesitantly edged his way through the bleak and dreary tunnel with the Pokémon in the sea next to him. Sandshrew sighed impatiently, reached towards the dashboard and flicked on the brilliant headlights. Now with the beneficial confidence of being able to see where he was going, Oz stepped down hard on the pedal, and careened down the tunnel at top speed. "Shrew!" Sandshrew yelled in terror as they swerved and lurched down the tunnel at a fierce velocity. "I am not going to fast!" "Shrew!" "I know what I'm doing!" "Shrew!" "I can steer perfectly with only one hand!" "Shrew!" "There's not even anything down here to hit!" As if to directly contradict Oz, the vehicle veered suddenly and slammed into the wall. "SHREW!" "Yes, I know! I know!" Oz yelled back, as he tried to regain control of the skewing vehicle with only his one right hand to operate it. But, it wasn't sufficient, and they literally bounced off of the tunnel wall, and crashed into the other side, with a horribly loud CHRK! sound every time. They continued onwards down the tunnel that way, in a cruel somewhat lifelike parody of Pong. Sandshrew yelled at Oz the entire time, and Charmy sat still in his seat, petrified. It was times like this, Oz reflected silently, that made him wish he was not a lefty... TBC? ~~~~~ All right, on the island thing, I just made a few assumptions, as it was all thoroughly confusing. Please don't stone me ^_^;;;;; Also, here's the only picture I could find of the vehicle at the end of the story: http://www.nintendo.com/n64/pokemonsnap/s0053.jpg And...I think that's all. I'll just have my character wander aimlessly around the island in isolation for a while, I guess... although I should probably return Charmy sometime soon, hehe... ^_^; Yosh ---------- "Remember, the thesaurus is you're friend!" Note: Beware the rabid Yosh.