From: Magic T. Dragon <cvilagi@earthlink.net> Subject: [PW!] Stranded Date: Wednesday, April 14, 1999 2:57 PM Natasha was awakened by a heavy jolt. The bus driver got up. "Okay, don't panic, but we were sideswiped...the bus is caught in a ditch." She cringed. Where the heck *was* this?? She looked out the window. It appeared to be a forest road. "Don't worry, the bus wasn't damaged, so we're not in any danger," The bus driver continued, "But it's not going to budge, and it'll be at least an hour until the tow truck gets here." Charmander tugged on her arm. In the seat next to her, a woman freaked out. "Oh my God...WE'RE ALL GONNA *DIE*!!!!" Chaos followed. The rest of the passengers screamed and pushed their way to the front of the bus. A few fell down and were near-trampled. Natasha held her seat until a man grabbed Cubone and tried to get off with him. "WHAT?? What are you doing? GIVE HIM BACK!" The man was held up in the crowd as two older ladies struggled with the short steps out of the bus. "CHARMANDER! Scratch!" "Mander...CHAR!" Charmander jumped at the strange man and ripped at his back. In pain, he dropped Cubone. Natasha scooped both her Pokémon up as the man pushed forward. "Whew...we should get out of here..." As the group thinned, changing into a mob running down the dirt road, Natasha got off the bus and went the other way. She set Charmander and Cubone down once the group was gone. "So...where are we? Maybe this will come in handy." Natasha took the Pokédex out of her pocket and began searching through the help files, hoping to find an onboard global positioning system. She sat back on a tree stump. "No, you stupid thing! I don't want a globe! I want to know where we are!" She swore under her breath, muttering something about Microsoft. Cubone started to wander off. Charmander was too worried to leave Natasha's side. Finally, she found her location. "Viridian Forest, huh? Well, we're closer to Pewter...might as well go there." She picked up Charmander, scanning for Cubone. "What?? Charmander, where did he go?" Charmander pointed into the forest. "Mander, Charmander der!" Natasha followed the narrow dirt path. "Cubone...here Cubone! Where *are* you??" She was answered by Cubone's voice, strangely quiet. She found Cubone in the bush, looking rather startled. "C'mere, you! You scared me...don't just wander away like that!" Cubone waved his bone, pointing with the other paw into the bush. A small, yellow rodent emerged. "Chuu?" Natasha nearly fell over packwards. "Cubone, get away from that...THING!" The Pikachu scampered away. "Okay, we'd better get back to the...road..." She turned around. The path was gone. "WHAT? Where's the path? Where...are we?" "Viridian Forest," The Pokédex answered. Natasha smacked its side. --Natasha V.