From: Spawn <nmvds@aol.computers> Subject: Merry Cascadebadge, Steven Fugues! P2 Date: Wednesday, June 23, 1999 3:08 PM Recap: After being depressed about Pokemon in general and the commercialization of Pokemon in general, Steve Fugues can't seem to get himself into the Pokemon spirit. After seeking therapy from a talking Meowth, Steve decides to compete for a Cascadebadge in front of onlookers everywhere. While everyone else asks for him to bring a good Pokemon like Mewtwo or Zapdos or Alakazam, Steve sticks to his gut instinct and chooses his beloved Magikarp. ************* "I wonder what time Steven will be back?" Marvin asked. "I hope he brought something good!" said Erin. That's when Steve made his entrance. "Good, we can finally start," said Misty. "I'm thinking about using my Togepi." "Wow, Togepi," Andrea shouted. "One of the most interesting Pokemon of the, uh... [insert types/types here.] breed." "Yes, it has awesome moves of, uh, [insert a cool move which Togepi knows here] and [insert another cool move which Togepi knows, unless of course Togepi only knows one move, which for all we know is true, here.] and other things we all know of so there's no point of mentioning," said Angel. "Yes, and it's so mysterious," added a Alyssa. "Perhaps there's only one. Perhaps there many and Misty is merely the first to find one. Perhaps in the prophecied day when Gold/Silver arises from the depths of oblivion, we will all be able to have one. Who knows?" "I sure don't," said Aislynn. "All I know is that I AM DEFINITELY NOT MAKING ANY CONCLUSIONS ABOUT TOGEPI RIGHT NOW WHATSOEVER AT THIS POINT AND WILL NEVER MAKE ANY CONLUSIONS UNTIL THAT FATEFUL DAY, SO THERE!!!" "Man, Topegi is such an exciting character," said Mimic, seriously out of character. "I shiver each time I hear his name. He's so mysterious, it's practically taboo. It's almost as if we were ticking people off just for TALKING about him right now." "Who's Togepi?" Karen asked. "You never heard about him," said a man as he quickly shoved her to the side who had an official badge saying "PW!" on his chest. "He doesn't exist. We were never here. This never happened." "But then, then what's the little egg looking thing that Misty is holdi--" "There's nothing there," the man continued. "After all, by all accounts, it's a Togepi. But how could that be? Togepi doesn't exist. So whatever she's holding doesn't exist." Finally, everybody's attention turned back to Steve. "What did you bring, Steve?" asked someone. Steve reached took out a Pokeball and revealed a Magikarp, which started to splash around in the pool. "A Magikarp?" people were saying in shock to each other. "Boy, are you stupid!" Erin said. "Can't you do anything right?" Andrea added. "We can't depend on you for anything," said Aislynn. "You're hopeless." "You've done dumb things before, Steven Fugues," said Meowth, "but this sure is the dumbest." Everyone burst out laughing. "That's it," Misty began, "I was about to let my Togepi show off it's awesome... uh... moves that do really cool things, which may or may not be things that have seen in the world of Pokemon before. But not anymore. The day you all will be able to see what my Togepi does will be the day when we end the blandness of blue and red and move into the metallic shine of gold and silver. As it is said, so shall it be. Starmie, I choose you!" "I guess you were right, Karen," said Steve as he endured the laughter around him. "I should have picked a stronger Pokemon. I guess I just don't understand what Pokemon is all about. CAN'T ANYONE TELL ME WHAT POKEMON IS ALL ABOUT??!? "Sure, Steven Fugues, I can tell you what Pokemon is all about," said Karen. The lights dim except for the spotlight on her left over from the swimming shows of the Cerulean sisters. "I always wanted to be the the best," Karen began, "like no one ever was. To catch them all is my true test, to train them is my cause. I will travel, across the land, searching far and wide. These Pokemon, to understand, the power that's inside. Pokemon, gotta catch them all. It's just you and me. Pokemon, I know it's my destiny. Pokemon, you're my best friend, in a world we must defend." The lights returned to normal. "And that's what Pokemon is all about, Steven Fugues," Karen told him. Steven began to walk out of the Cerulean City Gym happily. The words of Karen echoed through his head. "How can you 'catch em all' if we're not allowed to catch 5 of the 151 Pokemon?" Mimic wondered to himself. "I wonder how someone can catch them all if everyone is banned from catching 5 of them. Ever," Mimic wondered to himself. "Karen was right," Steve began to say to himself, "I won't let all this commercialism ruin my Pokemon. I'm going to work real hard and train it. And they'll see. It really will be great." He started to skip along his way. Then he looked at the newspaper. "Pokesoft Corp up 40 points?!?" he shouted. "Oh well," thought Steve, "this money grubbing corporation won't ruin my Pokemon." He began to leave through the exit. "Starmie, use tackle attack! Let's end this round quickly!" Misty yelled. "KARP?" Magikarp yelped just before it was knocked out. Steve looked at the fallen Pokemon and realized this wouldn't have happened had he kept Magikarp out of battle. "I killed it," he thought, walking away depressed. *********** Meanwhile, the trainers at Cerulean City began to gather around the fainted Magikarp. "I never really thought it was that bad of a pokemon," said Karen as she administered a maximum revive potion on it. "It's not bad at all, really. Maybe all it needs is a little love." Everyone gathered around to look at the Magikarp. "Steven Fugues is a blockhead," said Misty, "but he did get a good Pokemon." Suddenly, it was surrounded by a glow and began to evolve into Gyarados. "What's going on here?!?" Steve asked as he came back to check up on his Pokemon. Then he looked in awe to see that his Magikarp had evolved into a powerful Gyarados. "Merry Cascadebadge, Steven Fugues!" Suddenly, they all broke out in song., the tune of which happens to be available at http://members.aol.com/davexmas98/midis/hark-ne.mid "He was dumb and not too sharp, Glory to, the Evolved-Karp! His sole move was useless splash, We thought he'd lose in a flash, He was weak, problematic, Did not do much, pathetic, No attacks, could barely swim, Little was, useless as him, He was dumb and not too sharp, Glory to, the Evolved-Karp! Now we'll see a decent fight, He has grown and has a bite, He'll progress as he starts to age, And he'll learn Dragon Rage, Power beyond all our dreams, As he learns his Hyper Beams, Though the wait was very long, We see now he's very strong, He was dumb and not too sharp, Glory to, the Evolved-Karp!" **************** Epilogue: The [NC] Ending: **************** Steve began to marvel at his new Pokemon. "It's the meaning of life," he thought to himself. "Believing in something that no one else will, only to see something truly great happen." Steve began to think of all the fights he had taken his Magikarp through despite the advise of others. How no one else believed in it when he did. The fruits of his labor and patience were finally paying off. Suddenly, the Gyarados began to eat some of the spectators. "I guess I'd also be hungry too if I had just gotten beat up and had to grow from 10 kg up to 235 kg in a few seconds," Karen observed. "I'm assuming human beings are a really good source of protein." "Hey, this isn't the Pokemon spirit!" Steve yelled. "Gyarados, stop!" The Gyarados gave off a monstrous growl. "Everyone, RUN!!!!!" someone shouted. "Let's get out of here!" said another. "Can't we make sure it eats those Cerulean sisters first?" shouted a third. "I'm really sick of those shows they put on." "Good greif, Steven Fugues, you ARE a blockhead!" Misty shouted as the Gyarados started eating her limb by limb. "I really liked that arm! **************** TBC -Spawn To reply, remove "puters" from the e-mail address.