From: Yosh1121 <yosh1121@aol.com.> Subject: [PW!] One Nido, Two Nido, Three Ni-err...Eep? Date: Sunday, May 16, 1999 8:35 PM From his high vantage point in the tree, Oz could look into the deep burrow below with surprising ease. He shifted in the branches silently, watching the inhabitants of the deep nest. In it, two Nido parents watched protectively over their playful Nidoran offspring. Oz could almost admit to himself that the whole scene was actually quite cute, the small, innocent Nidorans running around inside pit, while the Nido parents watched fondly, except for the fact that the Nido parents were huge. From the Pokédex data, Oz approximated that they were a hell-of-alotta bigger than normal, by about normal height times three. Oz knew Pokémon Island was supposed to contain rare, and unusual Pokémon, but he never heard anything about steroid-pumped ones. Focusing deeper into the dark burrow, he spotted what he had come here for. Some of the young Nidorans were playing with a big, round, ball. A yellowish, brick-patterned ball. Sandshrew. He shifted again in the uncomfortable branches. How did Sandshrew get himself into this situation? In fact, why was there always a situation? Couldn't there ever be a time when things went perfectly smoothly and nothing went wron-A loud snapping sound interrupted Oz's train of thoughts. "Oh, great," Oz muttered, looking downwards. With another loud snap, the branch supporting the boy's weight broke off completely, and Oz dropped to the ground 15 feet below. "AAAAAAAAHHH!" He landed loudly, not to mention painfully, into the thick bushes. The Nidoking parent immediately came to investigate, and poked his nose into the brush. "AAAAAAHHH!" Oz greeted him politely in terror. "NIIIDOOO!" The Nidoking yelled, instantly taking it as a threat. "AAAAAAHHH!" Oz replied. "NIIIDOOO!" Nidoking argued. "AAAAAAHHH!" Oz screamed again. "NIIIDOOO!" The Nidoking roared back. Oz jumped back to his feet, and looked around him, getting his bearings. Facing the Nidoking again, he said, "Hey, it's been fun. Pointless, but fun. Tea time, next week, same time, sounds smashing. Toodleloo!" Oz dashed past the perplexed Nidoking, and back towards the nest. He was almost upon it when he suddenly remembered the other Nido. He threw himself to the ground, just as a giant, Nidoqueen tail swung at a deadly speed above his head. He rolled the last few feet into the nest. He stumbled around inside, and the young Nidoran yelped and squealed at him, almost deafening him. Oz found Sandshrew, still tucked into a little ball, and ran up the incline and back out of the burrow with Sandshrew in his arm. He sprinted across the clearing in the opposite direction in which he had come, spotting the vehicle in which Charmy waited impatiently. The Nidos roared, and Oz soon felt the ground shaking beneath his running feet. Glancing over his shoulder, he happened to notice a rather large, and rather pissed Nidoking bounding in his direction. He lunged forwards into the car, and slammed the door behind him. The Nidoking reached the automobile and headbutted it into the air. The automobile went sailing into the air like a small, toy car in comparison to the attacker, and smacked against the trunk of a tree. The vehicle was built for this kind of punishment, and only dented. The human and Pokémon inside, unfortunately, weren't constructed for this in mind. They were thrown forcefully out of their seats, and against the inside of the walls of the vehicle. Before the massive Poké could strike again, Oz reached up from the floor and turned the key, starting up the vehicle. Picking himself up into the driver's seat, he accelerated the car as fast as it would go, but, unfortunately, it went in reverse. Oz yelled again, as the small car zoomed backwards, directly towards the charging Nidoking. The vehicle and Nidoking hit each other at an alarming, extravagant speed, and the Nidoking literally tripped over the smaller, faster electric powered vehicle. The ground rocked violently under the great Pokémon's massive impact, and Oz cheered. He suddenly noticed Sandshrew and Charmy spread out on the floor. "Hey, you guys Ok?" "SANDSHREW!" the fallen ground Pokémon yelled. "Huh? Wha?" He turned around, and realized that they were still speeding backwards, only now they were heading back towards the nest, and the other extremely large Nido parent. "NIIIDOOOQUEEEEN!" it yelled in the full fury and rage of a protective mother. A very, very big protective mother. "AAAAAAHHH!" Oz yelled again in terror yet again, but this one wasn't interested in conversation. It lowered it's head downwards, and charged towards the approaching vehicle. Oz swerved the car into a full 90 turn, and raced away from the scene. "CHARMANDER!" Charmy yelled in warning. "Oh, great." Oz muttered as they neared the edge of the clearing, and rushed towards the incredibly dense jungle raced towards them. "SANDSHREW!" Sandshrew decided to chip in. "Oh, great." Oz muttered, glancing backwards. The two Nido parents had joined together and were now rushing side by side towards the vehicle, intense damage and pain clearly their intent. Turning back around, he found it was too late. They were almost to the treeline. Oz yelled in panic, and jabbed at the control panel in vain. Unseen to him, panels beneath the vehicle quickly slid open. The vehicle jolted violently, and lifted off of the ground. It veered slightly, but managed to keep going in a straight line, flying up, and above the trees. The two Nido parents roared in frustration and stalked back towards their nest. Oz, Sandshrew and Charmy sighed in relief. ----- Shortly thereafter... "Um...how do you land this thing?" Oz pondered outloud, as he examined the controls. "Shrew sand sandshrew," Sandshrew commented on how going down was a good start. "I think I liked you better as a Nido chew toy." "Sandshrew shrew." "Yeah, I'm sure you would like that," Oz threw back. Focusing back on the control panel of the flying vehicle, Oz groaned loudly in frustration. "Just how, for the love of FRIGGIN' GODDISH, do you make this thing go down?!?!" He kicked the control panel in anger. The hum of the automobile's electric engine abruptly died down to complete silence. "Oh." ----- "Oww..." Oz moaned as he picked himself out of the fallen vehicle. He turned around and helped Sandshrew and Charmy out of the car, which had been imbedded several feet into the ground from the fall, making it harder to climb out. "Ugh, sorry about that Charmy. You Ok?" "Mander charmander" "Well, it's just a couple of bruises most likely," Oz examined the Charmander closely for any injuries. After all, it was really Jeff's, and it'd be preferably returned alive and healthy. "Sandshrew, think you could get the first aid kit out of the car?" Sandshrew grumbled, but climbed onto the car, and jumped through the doorway, which had landed facing upwards. The slid a couple of inches deeper into the ground, startling Sandshrew. But when it didn't move anymore, he shrugged and pulled the kit out of the glove compartment, and hurried back out. Oz beckoned for Sandshrew to pitch the first aid kit to him, but when Sandshrew pulled his arm back to throw it, the round vehicle shifted underneath him again, throwing him off balance. He fell backwards into the car, and the last few inches of earth supporting the car gave way, and it plummeted downwards into darkness. "SHREEEEEEW!" "Sandshrew!" Oz yelled, running forward to the hole, and peered in hopefully. But to no avail. All he could see was pitch black darkness. He called again, but an answer did not come back. He yelled Sandshrew's name over and over until his throat was soar, but there was no sign of life. He fell onto the ground besides the hole and held his head in his hands mournfully. He couldn't lose Sandshrew. Not now. They had overcome so much, and yet come so little distance. They still had so far to go. A low growling sound made him turn his head up, wiping tears from his cheek. A familiar bright orange Charmander with strange unusual markings was circling a nervous Charmy, keeping it's head down threateningly. As Oz watched sadly, the strange flame Pokémon spouted a stream of blue flame at Charmy. Charmy barely managed to jump out of the way, crying out. But Oz didn't care. He sobbed silently. He had lost Sandshrew. His friend. It didn't seem possible, but he was gone. He watched as the wild Charmander's incessant circling got tighter and tighter, deliberately coming closer to Charmy with each sweep. It was going to kill Charmy. But Oz didn't care. Sandshrew...... Oh God, Sandshrew...... TBC? ~~~~~ Feedback would be nice... Yosh ---------- Note: Beware the rabid Yosh.