From: Dree Elle1 <dreeelle1@aol.com> Subject: [PW!] Now you see me, now you don't Date: Saturday, April 24, 1999 6:49 PM ((Just killing time till I get Aislynn to Cerulean City...heh heh. Can ya tell I was a bit bored when I went on this writing spree? ;D )) ~Karma Rocket~ "There's one! No wait...over there! There! Rrrghhhh!!" Maki growled in frustration as Scribbles collapsed panting on the ground. "You've been trying to get one of those Abras all morning..." Aislynn yawned, stretching her arms. Knave had fallen asleep in her lap and was muttering to himself. "They're just so danged hard to catch..." he sighed. "You see'em and the next thing you know, they're gone." "Its that teleport trick of theirs." Aislynn informed him. "You're lucky to see one at all." "I guess so." he grumbled, watching as an Abra appeared directly in front of him in a yellow streak, made a noise not unlike a raspberry being blown and then vanished again. "Tan....tan....tangela..." Scribbles wheezed, catching its breath. "Its okay, Scrib. Take a break." he told the tangela, recalling it to its ball. "I guess I might as well give up. These things are evil, plain and simple." "No...Wigglytuffs and Jynxes are evil. There's a difference." Aislynn grinned. "How do YOU know? You can't see'em." he playfully taunted. "Ever been hugged by a Wigglytuff?" she asked, wrinkling her nose in distaste. "Ugh no! I never got close enough." he shuddered. "They feel like a giant water balloon. My aunt came over to visit and I got hugged by her Wigglytuff, Minkles....one of the most frightening experiences of my life. The thing smelled like mothballs." she told him, laughing. "GAH! No more!" Maki cried, pretending to wretch. "Abra." an Abra grunted, materializing directly beside Aislynn. "Hsst....Aislynn, don't move..." he whispered, reaching into his pocket to take out a pokeball. "What's going on?" she inquired. "Just don't move..." he replied, expanding the pokeball and aiming at the yellow pokemon glaring tauntingly at him. "I gotcha now, you yellow freak of nature..." he muttered, wheeling back suddenly and hurling the pokeball. There was a loud clunking sound and a flash of light...it all happened too fast for him to really see it. In the end though, he was gratified to see a twitching pokeball in the grass. "All right! I got it!" he cheered. Evidently he had spoken too soon. The ball spun, twitched and then burst open to reveal a dazed, if not VERY angry, Knave. "WHAT YOU THINK YOU DOING??" he shrieked, giving the open pokeball a kick and sending it bouncing off into the grass. "Knave? Sorry, I thought you were an Abra!" he laughed. "You think is funny??" the outraged Clefairy demanded, fluttering up to eye level with the boy. "How about I grab you and shove YOU in something the size of baseball and YOU see how funny it is???" "Geez, calm down! It was an accident!" he snapped. "He really hates pokeballs..." Aislynn chimed in. "Yeah NOW ya tell me." he said, backing away from the grumpy pokemon. "You throw one more pokeball this way and you gonna have to have doctor pull it out of your nose!" Knave threatened. "You're really intimidating there, lintball." he snickered. "Knave, cool it. He apologized." Aislynn put in. The clefairy spared him a last dirty look before returning to his mistress. "I think we should just give it up." he shrugged. "Ya know, they sell Abras at the Celadon game corner." Aislynn suggested. "Are you kidding? Why pay for'em when you can get'em for free?" he asked, seeing a yellow blur out of the corner of his eye. "Because we might save ourselves a few hours of sitting in this field? You're the one who said you needed to get to Cerulean by Sunday." she countered. "We've got plenty of time." he assured her. "And I want one of these things!" "You have better chance of Mew leaping in your arms and asking you marry it." Knave snorted. "That's YOUR opinion." Maki told the clefairy. "Look...there's one over there!" he said quickly, flinging another pokeball. The Abra disappeared, making the ball clatter harmlessly into a tree and roll toward Aislynn with a slight dent in it. "Man...missed again." he sighed. Knave pounced on the damaged pokeball. "Keep deathtraps away from me!" he growled, gathering it into his arms and hurling it as far as he could into some nearby grass. "AB!" something squealed, making Maki, Aislynn, and Knave fall silent. At length, Knave scurried forward to see what had happened. "Find anything, Knave?" Aislynn asked after a few moments had passed. "I think....I just caught Abra..." Knave told them, sounding faint, as he slowly stepped into view, rolling the closed pokeball alongside himself. "No way...lemme see!" Maki said skeptically, grabbing the pokeball up from the ground. It felt heavy and wriggled in his hand, but it was still hard to believe. "Pokemon, come out!" he commanded, throwing the ball to the ground. There was a flash of light and then.... "Abra Bra." the pokemon grunted, looking about itself. "I don't believe this..." Maki groaned. "A friggin' Clefairy's a better pokemon hunter than I am?" "I'll bet it was just luck." Aislynn said immediately. "What you mean luck? It take skill, patience and---" Knave started to protest. "ALL YOU DID WAS THROW THE BALL INTO THE WEEDS!" Maki cried, grabbing the Clefairy and shaking him angrily. "Abra..." the pokemon muttered, a sweatdrop forming on its brow as it watched the fight. "You guys, stop it!" Aislynn cried, attempting to break them up and having little to no effect on them. "Let go!" Knave growled, struggling and kicking wildly. "I've had about enough of you!" Maki replied angrily, keeping a tight grip on the clefairy. "Is upsetting Aislynn!" he cried, making Maki finally come to his senses somewhat. "You've insulted me for the last time, bucko." the boy told the pokemon. "Do it again, and I've just found myself a new pincushion." he said, releasing Knave roughly. The clefairy glared at him before fluttering back to Aislynn without a word. "Knave, what did you plan on doing with an Abra anyway?" Aislynn inquired. "Was GOING to give it to stupid human, but can forget it now!" Knave growled at Maki. "Abra? Abra abra..." the abra muttered, looking first at Aislynn and then at Maki. "What you MEAN you don't know who master is?" Knave asked, sounding somewhat shocked. "Abra abrabra." it replied. "It NOT unorthodox to have pokemon for master!" "Why not just let it pick someone?" Aislynn asked. "That way there's no one to be mad at." The Abra smiled at this suggestion and then resumed its pondering. At length it slowly got up and took a wary step in Maki's direction. He felt his breath catch in his throat as it wandered up to him and stopped, looking up at him. "Abra!" it squeaked happily. "Abra abrabra bra!" "What's he saying?" she inquired. "SHE saying that she feel more comfortable with strong man as master. Hmph....shallow." Knave grumbled angrily. Maki laughed and knelt to have a better look at his new pokemon. "Its okay Knave...if it'll make you feel better, the next pokemon I catch you can have." Aislynn told him, making him perk up a little. "Okay...as long as it not Jynx." he told her. "I seriously doubt we're gonna find any wild Jynx around here." she smiled. "But okay...I'll do my best." "I think I'm gonna name you Fade-Out. " Maki told the pokemon, picking it up. "Is that okay?" "Abra!" the pokemon nodded. "Okay then...looks like I've got me a new partner." he laughed as the Abra nuzzled him happily. "Can we go now?" Aislynn asked, standing and brushing the dead grass off of her pantlegs. "Can't you see I'm bonding?" Maki asked. "Okay...YOU can bond. In the meantime, Knave and I are goin' to Cerulean. See ya." she said, turning with Knave muttering directions in her ear. "You guys really know how to wreck a touching moment!" Maki called after them, hurriedly calling Fade-Out into a spare pokeball hurriedly and jogging to catch up to Aislynn and Knave. And as the sun rose to her highest point in the sky, Aislynn and Maki, along with their teams of pokemon, continued on their way to Cerulean City. TBC....