From: Dree Elle1 <dreeelle1@aol.com> Subject: [PW!] Say hello to my little friend... Date: Thursday, April 15, 1999 8:58 PM ((I know...I'm pretty danged far behind in my PW posts but I'm trying to get back into the swing of things. Hopefully Aislynn will have her first badge soon...my problem? Got too many ideas and not enough time to write'em all down ^.^ Anyway....on with the show!)) ~Karma Rocket~ "Ev! Ev!" the kits barked, chasing each other around the couch. "You sure you don't want to take them all?" Sharon asked, watching as two of them tumbled into the leg of the end table, sending the TV remote control clattering to the floor. "Positive." James answered. "I can take one at the most but no more than that." "In that case, take your pick." Sharon yawned. "I guess I could use the company from the other three." James eyed the eevee kits carefully, his eyes occasionally wandering to the mother who sat, reclined on the windowsill, watching her young. "Ev!" one of the slightly larger kits yelped, leaping on its younger brother and tugging at his ear playfully. Around its left ear was a band of chocolate-colored fur. "You know, I like that banded one..." James remarked slowly, stepping forward. "Sassy, huh?" Sharon smiled. "Yeah, she's a little scrapper." she added as James stooped to pick up the baby eevee. She struggled in his hands for a moment before settling down and busily lapping at his face with her warm tongue. "Stop it! That tickles!" he laughed, drawing the baby pokemon out of licking distance. "How long until she can be evolved?" "Evolved?" Sharon asked. "Well, I'd like to turn her into a vaporeon..." James told her. "Its one of my favorite pokemon." "I'd give it a couple more weeks." Sharon told him thoughtfully. "I mean, even though eevees are fast growers, keep in mind she IS still a baby." "I know." he nodded. "So can I have her?" "Be my guest." Sharon replied. "Good morning, mom!" Aislynn's voice filtered into the room as the girl bounded down the stairs and came around the corner with Knave perched on her shoulder. "Afternoon is more like it." her mother smiled. "You're really gonna leave me again, huh?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow. "Yeah, got a backpack this time and everything!" Aislynn grinned, turning to display the yellow backpack on her shoulders with a pikachu embroidered on one of the pockets. "Lots of food too!" Knave remarked happily. "I make sure of that!" "You sure did." Aislynn sighed, shaking her head. "That's part of the reason I slept so late today...you had me up half the night making sandwiches." "Eh...is small price to pay." Knave shrugged, grinning as the two adults snickered. "Have everything?" Sharon asked. "Almost...I let all my pokemon out to feed them this morning and I think I lost Spirit somewhere." she replied, somewhat sheepishly. "Spirit....that's your spearow, right?" James asked. Aislynn nodded, brushing a strand of purple hair out of her eyes. "Well, I'm sure he'll turn up somewhere." she said pleasantly. As if on cue, there was a loud crash from the kitchen making everyone present jolt and turn toward the sound. "Spear...spear..." Spirit clucked to itself as it strutted out of the kitchen, a sugar cookie clutched in its beak. "You little monster!" Sharon cried, making the Spearow sweatdrop and run hurriedly in the other direction. "Spear! Spearow!!!" Spirit cried as it was enveloped in a red aura and drawn back into a pokeball Aislynn held in her hand. "Aislynn Brandt, you said you were going to break him of that stealing habit!" her mother snapped angrily. "I guess its hard for old spearows to learn new tricks." Aislynn smirked. "Don't worry...he won't bother you for much longer. In a few minutes, we'll be outta here." "You want to take one of the babies with you?" Sharon offered, looking at the two remaining eevee kits who were busily sniffing at the potted fern she had in the corner. "Eevees make good watchdogs." "That's okay mom...I think I'd rather catch my pokemon." Aislynn smiled as she pocketed Spirit's pokeball. "But thanks for the offer." "We gonna go get badges!" Knave told anyone interested. "Yup. I'm gonna have to get back to Pewter somehow." she remarked. "Why not just challenge the gym leader here?" Sharon asked. "I really don't think my pokemon are ready..." Aislynn replied. "Might be good to get some experience first." "I agree." James nodded. "Well, I need to get back to the island. Jessie's probably wondering why I'm taking so long." "That was kind of a long way to come just to see how the kits were...did you tell her you were coming to pick up an eevee?" Sharon inquired. "No...thought I'd tick her off and say I caught it." James grinned as Sassy scrambled up onto his shoulder and wrapped her thick tail around his neck like a scarf. "Ah I see." Sharon smiled knowingly. "Well, guess you'd better get going then. Safe journey and you be careful around Maria!" she called with a broad grin on her face, making James blush hotly and turn to look at her. "What's that supposed to mean?" he asked defensively. "Oh give it up, James...you know as well as I do she's nuts for you. I could tell that from day one when she first joined." Sharon chided, rolling her eyes. James opened his mouth to say something and then quickly closed it again. "Right, whatever. Come on, Sassy." James said, gently lifting her off of his neck and heading for the door. "Thanks for taking care of her for me, Sharon!" he called over his shoulder and then was gone. "I probably should get going too. I dunno how long it'll take me to get to Pewter City if I have to walk." Aislynn piped up. "Yeah. I'd offer to take you but Clyde and Ronnie took the balloon for the day." Sharon sighed. "Good luck sweetie." "Thanks mom." Aislynn smiled. After they had exchanged their goodbyes, Aislynn headed eagerly out the door, intent on continuing her journey. "Is nice day." Knave remarked as they walked toward the outskirts of town. "Yeah. Hopefully it won't get too hot." she replied, feeling the sun's mild warmth beat down on her through her black jacket. "What you gonna do with Weepinbell?" Knave asked, remembering suddenly that Aislynn hadn't kept her promise to meet Fletcher at the edge of town and make the trade for a squirtle. Aislynn slapped her forehead. "Oh geez, I forgot!" she groaned. "Well, I guess it couldn't hurt to have two plant pokemon..." "They eat too much." Knave snorted. "Look who's talking." Aislynn shot back with a smirk. "THERE you are! You sure kept me waiting long enough!" a familiar voice resounded loudly, making Aislynn whirl on her heels, trying to decide which direction the speaker would approach from. "I've been here all night, little lady! Did you find me my weepinbell?" Fletcher asked, approaching and trying to straighten out his disheveled hair as he did so. "I'm so sorry..." she said, biting her lip. "I kinda got caught up in things...I didn't mean to make you wait." "Eh its okay. The fresh air probably did me some good." he laughed, rubbing the back of his neck. "Did you get my weepinbell?" he asked again. "Yeah actually..." she said, fumbling around in her pockets for the right pokeball. "Here it is!" she said at last, tossing the ball to the ground and the yellow plant pokemon emerged. "Bell?" it asked, blinking its bulbous eyes confusedly. "Karen's gonna love this." Fletcher grinned, kneeling and picking up the weepinbell. "You probably want your squirtle, huh?" he asked, setting down the briefcase he was carrying and opening it to reveal several rows of shiny pokeballs. "Now lessee...." he muttered, running a fingertip over the tops of them. "I think it was this one." he said at last, grabbing up a pokeball and throwing it to the ground. There was a flash of light and a wooshing noise as a large green serpent with yellow bands came into view. "Ekannnsss!" it hissed. "Nope, that would be the freak." he chuckled, recalling the green ekans. "Why it green?" Knave asked. "Ekans supposed to be purple." "Hmm? Oh that one's some weird hybrid." Fletcher replied. "We found'im on one of the lotus plants my daughter had imported from some island somewhere. She didn't want him so I was gonna try and sell'im at the auction but no one seemed too interested. Ah, here we are." he said, taking out a slightly used-looking pokeball. "Think this is it." he told her, throwing the ball to the ground. There was another flash and an impossibly tiny squirtle appeared. "Squirrtlee!" it cried in a high-pitched voice. Knave's mouth dropped open. This pokemon was even smaller than HE was. "You joking!" Knave exclaimed, hopping off of Aislynn's shoulder for a closer look at the tiny squirtle. "Where rest of it??" "What's wrong with it, Knave?" Aislynn asked. "Is smaller than a jigglypuff! That what wrong with it!" Knave cried. "Is rip-off!" "Squirrr..." the squirtle groaned sadly. "Now wait just a minute there, fluff-for-brains." Fletcher said, slightly annoyed. "This squirtle's just as good as any other pokemon!" "I could eat that squirtle for breakfast!" Knave shot back. "Is no good in battle!" "We'll just see about that...squirtle, bubblebeam!" he ordered, pointing at Knave. "Squirtle!" the tiny pokemon cried, jetting a large stream of bubbles at the clefairy before it could move. The attack struck him head-on and knocked him over in a faint. Fletcher then reached into his coat pocket for a small vial of potion and gently poured it into the clefairy's gaping mouth. "Convinced?" he asked as Knave came to, sitting up and shaking his head. "Packs a punch..." Knave grunted, getting shakily to his feet. "Wow, he knows bubblebeam?" Aislynn asked excitedly. "Yeah, believe it or not he's pretty fargone in experience." Fletcher replied, picking up a random pokeball and calling Weepinbell into it. "Well, its been nice doin' business with ya, girl, but I'd better get goin'." he told her, closing up his briefcase and getting to his feet. "See ya around, maybe." he called over his shoulder at her as he walked away briskly. "Squirtle! Squir! Squir!" the squirtle declared, reaching upward at Aislynn asking to be picked up. "He want you carry him, Aislynn." Knave sighed, fluttering up and landing back on her shoulder. Aislynn nodded and knelt, feeling the pokemon clamber into her arms. "He's smaller than YOU are, Knave!" she remarked, standing up. "And he beat you in a fight?" "Good for nothing dinky pokemon hit me when wasn't looking." Knave grumbled resentfully. "Dinky...I like that." Aislynn said thoughtfully. "I think I'm gonna name it that. You like that name, Dinky?" she asked, holding the squirtle out at arms' length. "Squirr!" the pokemon replied, clapping its hands together happily. "Okay then!" she smiled, hugging the pokemon gently. "Ya know, water pokemon are weak against rock pokemon. We just might have an edge here against the leader of the Pewter gym now that Dinky's on our team." she told Knave. The clefairy wasn't listening...something else had captured his interest. "What that?" he asked, eyeing a small spherical object in the road. "What's what?" Aislynn asked, feeling Knave climb down from her shoulder again. Knave approached slowly, realizing the object was a pokeball. "Don't know....maybe it extra pokeball we can use." he suggested, reaching out tentatively and pressing the lock on the front. The pokeball instantly sprang open and a large green shape leapt out. "Ekanssss!" the snake hissed, lunging at Knave. "GAH! Human left weird green ekans here!" he cried, scrambling out of reach. "I choose you, Spirit!" Aislynn cried, grabbing a pokeball and hurling it forward. There was a flash of light and then....Juniper materialized, standing quietly before the attacking serpent. "Wrong one! Is Metapod!" Knave cried out. "Oops..." Aislynn said quietly, looking to a slight degree embarrassed. "Okay then, go Lilly!" she cried, sending out her bellsprout. "Sprout?" it asked, blinking wildly. "Lilly! Use your stun spore!" she cried, clenching a fist in anticipation. "Bell..." the plant sighed, releasing a cloud of reddish powder from its mouth. The green ekans shuddered violently a moment and collapsed onto its side, unable to move. "Knave, double slap!" she ordered. The clefairy plucked up its courage and raced toward the stricken ekans, striking it hard on either side of the head. "And Juniper...umm...harden!" she called as an afterthought, eliciting a confused look from Knave. "He needs the experience." she shrugged. "Kannnsss..." the ekans groaned, slowly regaining its composure. "Is waking up..." Knave warned, stepping away from the ekans. "Pokeball, go!" Aislynn cried, hurling an empty pokeball at the snake. It drew the pokemon in, twitched once and then promptly ejected it again. She felt her heart sink in disappointment. "Is still too strong!" Knave told her. "I kinda gathered that..." Aislynn muttered. The ekans, angered by the attempted capture, reared up and struck at Juniper who merely allowed itself to be hit and fell onto its side, its strong outer shell preventing it from being hurt too badly. "Juniper, return!" Aislynn called, recalling the metapod to its pokeball. "You not supposed to use more than one pokemon at a time, anyway..." Knave reminded her. "Knave, I'm part of Team Rocket. Since when does Team Rocket follow the rules?" she asked. The clefairy seemed to ponder this a moment before shrugging. "Dinky, go get'im!" she cried, setting the Squirtle down. "Squirrtle!" Dinky exclaimed, rushing forward. "Use your bubblebeam attack!" she commanded. Dinky complied, jetting a stream of bubbles at the green snake. It winced and recoiled, wavering a bit. "Pokeball go!" Aislynn cried again, taking out another pokeball and hurling it at the snake. Once again it was drawn inside. The pokeball twitched and spun angrily on the ground, tracing an odd pattern in the dirt before there was a minute clicking sound and the lock slipped into place. "That was fun..." Knave remarked, brushing dust from his shoulders. Aislynn didn't answer as she stood quietly after recalling Lilly to its pokeball. "Did we catch it?" she asked. "Yeah...hardly worth fighting." Knave grumbled. "Is only green." "Hmm..." Aislynn murmured thoughtfully, taking out her pokedex. "Ekans. This snake pokemon is usually found in vast fields and makes its home under rocks and in thickets. In tropical climates, this pokemon has been known to live in treetops and assume the color of the foliage to better blend in with its surroundings." "Wow." Aislynn gasped. "This thing must've come from a tropical island somewhere!" "You gonna stand there or we gonna go?" Knave asked, scampering over to the pokeball and heaving it in her direction. It rolled toward her and bumped into the toe of her sneaker with a barely audible thud as she bent over to claim it. "Think we should go return it?" she asked, hesitantly pocketing the pokeball. "I not chasing after some human. We give Ekans back if we run into him again. Until then, is ours." Knave said reasonably. "You say yourself we in Team Rocket. Team Rocket steal pokemon!" "I guess you're right." she said. "Okay, I guess that makes six pokemon on our side...nothing more to do except head for Pewter City I guess." "Good idea." Knave nodded. "Squirtle! Squirr!" Dinky called, tugging at the right leg of Aislynn's jeans and motioning to be picked up again. "She no can see you, you know." Knave told the squirtle as Aislynn picked it up again. "Squir?" Dinky asked, waving a hand wildly in front of Aislynn's unfocused eyes. He hesitated and then made a face at her, his tongue lulling out of his mouth ridiculously and making Knave laugh. When she didn't respond to this, Dinky grew concerned and stroked the side of her face gently. "Squirrrr..." he moaned sympathetically. "Its okay." she smiled. "I'm sorta used to not having eyes." "Squirtle." Dinky shrugged. "What you gonna name ekans?" Knave inquired. "Hmm...haven't thought about it much." Aislynn admitted. "How about Emerald?" "Is...okay name." Knave said at last. "You have a better one?" she inquired. "Is not really snake-like. Sound more like necklace." he told her. "Hmm...okay. Well, how about Zanthrax?" she asked, slightly shocking the clefairy. "Where you come up with that?" he asked. "It was a name I got out of a Dragonite Riders of Pern book mom read to me." she shrugged. "I guess that's his name now." "Work for me." Knave nodded. "We'd better get going." Aislynn told the clefairy. "We've got a lot of ground to cover." "Yup." Knave nodded. "Turn to the right...walk forward." he instructed. And so, equipped now with a full team of pokemon, Aislynn sets off in search of the Pewter City Gym to earn her first badge. TBC...