From: Karnivax <karnivax@my-deja.com> Subject: [PW!] No Place Like Home Date: Wednesday, June 23, 1999 6:24 AM It's been a while, but my latest fanfic is at last here... Oh, and if any of you are wondering who Malcolm MacDowell is (there's a mention of him here), he played the main character Alex in "A Clockwork Orange," and now he does the voice of Metallo in the "Superman" animated series, as well as the voice of Rhesus II in the little-known but amusing cartoon "Captain Simian and the Space Monkeys"... :) --NO PLACE LIKE HOME-- Part 1 by Karnivax "Hang in there, Grendel. Cinnabar Island's right down there. It was a long flight, but we're back home." With that announcement by Kyle, an extremely exhausted Aerodactyl let out a squawk of relief and started to swoop down upon the tiny isolated island he and Kyle called home. Grendel made a shaky landing on the island's eastern shoreline, followed by a rather indifferent Gengar named Thanatos, a jubilant Torrasque the Scyther, and his curious pet Pikachu, Cathode. Torrasque landed quickly and tossed beach sand up in the air. "At last, familiar turf!" he happily exclaimed. Thanatos just looked at him curiously, wondering what all the fuss was about. Thanatos was not particularly interested in any city or town which was sparsely populated. When Thanatos played guitar, he usually wanted lots of people to hear him. "Okay, guys," said Kyle. "Let's not get too comfortable. We're not going to be here for too long. We're just going to stop by my house to stock up on food and stuff, then we're going to get the TM that Blaine owes me, and then we're off to our next destination." Torrasque's head drooped. He wanted badly to stay on Cinnabar. He just did not share Kyle's wanderlust. The team started walking away from the beach, and along the way Kyle freed Espio the Charmeleon from his Pokéball. "Mmm...smell that laboratory-polluted air." Espio took a quick look around. "I know this place. Cinnabar Island, right? This is rather close to my old home..." "We'll be visiting there soon enough," Kyle informed Espio. "You sure you want to do that?" Espio said. "Aside from the fact that there are wild Pokémon in my old home who could splatter our viscera all over the planet, there are mosquitoes there the size of 747s." "We'll be fine," Kyle answered crossly. "C'mon. First we're going to visit my house." So the team walked across to the west side of the island, where Kyle's quaint beach house stood. It was made of mostly wood and was elevated several feet above the ground to guard against floods. The whole exterior of the house was painted light red. It had three floors, and five windows on each of the house's four sides - arranged in such a way that there were eight windows on the first floor, eight windows on the second floor, and four windows on the third floor. As the group headed up the house's front flight of stairs to the porch, Torrasque heard mechanical whirring and clanking noises coming from behind him. He stopped and whirled around to look, and he just barely saw what appeared to be the shadowy tail of some animal disappear behind a nearby house. Then the noises stopped. _Was that who I think it was?_ Torrasque wondered to himself. _No way, it couldn't be..._ Then he continued ascending the stairs to Kyle's house. "Pika?" Cathode asked, having noticed the sounds as well. However, the tail belonged to exactly who Torrasque had originally suspected - the vicious cyber-dinosaur Panopticon. Panopticon sat and waited behind a tiny shore cottage and watched as Kyle and crew entered Kyle's home, then activated a small comlink on his wrist. "Massster," he hissed. "I have sssighted the interlopersss who meddled with your plansss in Cerulean City." "Panopticon, it is of utmost importance that you not engage them in combat," came the reply from Panopticon's mysterious controller. "Your mission objectives on Cinnabar regarding the boy are solely to scout, and not be seen. I expect you to find out more about this boy and his Pokémon...you must ascertain what they are capable of, whatever weaknesses they may have, and where they are going. The boy may not be empowered, but he and his Pokémon could yet turn out to be worthy of being my servitors..." "I already heard them dissscussssing their next dessstination," Panopticon pointed out. "They are headed for the home of that white Charmeleon." "White Charmeleon...? You and I both know that the only place one could find one of those would be Pokémon Island. Excellent scouting work, Panopticon," the master praised. "I will dispatch Proteus shortly to intercept the boy and his compatriots once they reach Pokémon Island." Panopticon scowled. "Proteusss?! With all due ressspect, massster, regardlesss of the fact Proteusss outranksss me, you are sssending him on a misssion that requiresss ssskillsss he sssimply doesss not have! Sssubtlety, for example!" "Granted, Panopticon, Proteus will never be as efficient a covert operative as you. But consider the facts that he is horrendously strong, that he is nigh-indestructible, and that you have a much more difficult mission on Cinnabar to occupy you at present." "Capturing the empowered Team Rocket member...I know," Panopticon noted. "Though I hardly consssider that difficult." "Do not underestimate him," Panopticon's master warned. "I have been watching him for several days. His Pokémon defend him well. And his powers may be latent at present, but if awakened they could even rival my own..." "I underssstand, massster. I ssshall not fail you again. Panopticon out." And with that, Panopticon shut off the comlink, activated his Predator-style personal cloaking device, and started to quietly head for the Cinnabar Island Gym, making it a point not to be seen. By that time, Kyle and his crew were wandering around inside his house. Torrasque dashed straight to Kyle's room, and Cathode just held on to Torrasque's neck tightly. "Dad better not have thrown out my Magic: the Gathering collection!" Torrasque exclaimed. Since Kyle's father had been in charge of the experiment at the Cinnabar Island Laboratories that had created Torrasque, Torrasque considered Kyle's father his own as well. "All right! It's still here!" Torrasque eventually announced. Espio plodded over to the soft recliner in Kyle's living room and sat down, making sure not to burn it with his tail-flame. "Ohhh yeah...Italian leather," Espio noted. "Trčs cher. Jeez, Kyle, are your parents loaded?" "Well, it's not something I'd brag about, with people like Team Rocket around..." Kyle replied. Then he added in a rather sullen tone, "And it's 'parent.' Singular." Kyle's mother had died just two weeks after giving birth to him. Espio was not listening. He hit the lever on the right side of the recliner, and reclined. "Hey, I could get used to this..." Thanatos was already in the kitchen, entertaining himself by sticking himself inside the blender and hitting "frappé." Kyle let out a sigh and headed into his room. Torrasque was still in there, looking for his violin. Cathode was skittering around underneath Kyle's bed, chasing a wayward lizard that had found its way into the house somehow. Whenever the lizard turned to face him, Cathode simply growled "Chuuu" until the reptile continued fleeing. "Aha! Found it!" Torrasque exclaimed. He pulled his violin case out of Kyle's closet, nearly knocking over a mountain of old clothes and other discarded falderal in the process. He removed the violin and modified bow from the case, then quickly played an excerpt from Aaron Copland's "American Rodeo." Once done, he took a bow and, in perfect mimicry of the old commercial, said, "Beef. It's what's for dinner." "On that note, Torrasque, you might as well start picking out food you want to take," Kyle said. "I don't plan to stick around here for too long." "All right, all right..." Torrasque sighed. He put away his violin and headed for the kitchen, where Thanatos was sitting inside the microwave, heating himself up. He eventually exploded into a swarm of tiny Gengars, who flew out of the microwave and bounced around the room wildly for a few minutes before reforming into Thanatos. Torrasque cast him a bemused glance. "Y'know, I wouldn't be surprised if Marilyn Manson could do that same thing," Torrasque remarked. The microwave went "DING!" and shut off. Kyle then came into the kitchen, and Torrasque took one of his empty Pokéballs. The Scyther opened up the fridge and started beaming item of food after item of food into the Pokéball, until there was nothing left in the fridge but an open box of baking soda. Then a familiar voice said, "Torrasque, you could at least leave me the milk." "Dad!" exclaimed both Kyle and Torrasque. Standing in the kitchen doorway was a tall, lanky man in his early forties with blue eyes, brown hair, a thick beard and a mustache, wearing a lab uniform. "I'm on break," he explained. "I just came home to get a Coke. But I must say, this is a pleasant surprise, having you here." He looked around the room, and saw Thanatos stirring himself up with an eggbeater. "Well, I see you caught a Gengar...very impressive, Kyle." "That's Thanatos," Kyle said. "He's one of those horror-rock types, like Rob Zombie. Though at times it seems Thanatos is a couple French fries short of a Happy Meal, he's a great guitar player. Really." Thanatos stopped mixing himself, reclaimed his language translator from one of Kyle's Pokéballs, and floated over to Professor Richter. "Pleasure to make your acquaintance," Thanatos said in his Beatle-like accent, trying to shake the Professor's hand. Then Espio came waltzing into the kitchen, holding his tail in front of him so as not to burn anything. "'Ayyy, Mr. R.," he greeted the Professor. "A white Charmeleon?" the Professor noted. "And an intelligent one at that...Kyle, have you been to Pokémon Island?" "Not yet," Kyle answered. "Espio here was a straggler we found in Vermilion. He plays keyboard, he loves the Yankees, and he was tough enough to beat a Raichu and an Electabuzz in the same battle..." "And people tell me I sound just like Matt Damon," Espio added. Imitating Matt Damon's role in "Good Will Hunting," Espio then said in a weak Bostonian accent, "Hey, let's go down to the Hahvahd Yahd and impress some smaht kids with ah knowledge of pre-Civil Wah economic modalities. So, what do you think? Is that worthy of applause, or what?" There was silence, and a lot of blank stares. Espio got a dour expression on his face. "That flushing sound you hear is what's left of my poor self-esteem going down the toilet..." Crestfallen, he trundled out of the room. "Methinks Espio is in need of some Prozac," Professor Richter commented. "Eh, just give him a bottle of Pepsi and he'll be fine," Torrasque said. "How about you, Torrasque? How have you been?" the Professor asked. "Just great, Dad," Torrasque answered. "I nailed down a Volcanobadge for Kyle, beat the hell out of an angry Moltres, nearly got killed by a level one hundred Magmar, met a female Scyther, learned Hyper Beam and Toxic, and caught a pet Pikachu..." Then Cathode came running into the room, holding the lizard by its tail. "Piii!" Cathode victoriously announced. "I'll take that," the Professor said, taking the lizard from Cathode, walking over to the front door, and releasing it. Then he returned to the kitchen. Cathode was looking disappointed. "Well, Torrasque," the Professor continued, "how would you like to drop by the lab with me? We're currently working on a project that I'm sure will interest you." "Okay...sure," Torrasque said, not knowing what to make of Professor Richter's comment. "Excellent. My break's almost over, so you might as well come back to the lab with me now." The Professor took Torrasque by one scythe and led him out of the house, and Cathode went after them, leaping on to Torrasque's right shoulder. Kyle, Espio and Thanatos waved goodbye. Kyle took the Pokéball from Torrasque and started to beam a few food items back into the refrigerator for his father, then re-attached the food-filled Pokéball to his belt. "We're off to the Cinnabar Island Gym," he announced to Espio and Thanatos. --NO PLACE LIKE HOME-- Part 2 by Karnivax Meanwhile, Panopticon was stationed just outside the Cinnabar Gym, waiting patiently for the Team Rocket member he was supposed to capture to emerge. He was still cloaked, and as of yet no one had taken notice of him, save for a wandering Krabby, which Panopticon shot dead on sight. Then Panopticon noticed Kyle and his team entering the gym. He rubbed his hands together in anticipation. _Thisss misssion isss going to be even easssier than I imagined..._ he thought. Kyle and his team headed down the familiar marble main hallway of the gym, and seconds before entering the arena there was a loud crash which shook the whole building. Kyle and crew dashed into the arena to see what had happened. Standing on the far side of the battlefield was Blaine, looking astonished. Lying a few feet in front of him was a badly beaten and unconscious Arcanine. Standing over the defeated Arcanine was a triumphant-looking Golem. Training the victorious Golem was none other than Team Rocket member David Bradley. "Eh, don't look so surprised, mate," David said to Blaine. "Goliath here's never lost to a fire Pokémon." Kyle and Thanatos, surprised by David's presence, turned and hid behind a marble pillar. Espio gave them both a confused glance. "Yes...well, I suppose I should have seen this coming," Blaine sighed, tossing a Volcanobadge to David. "Oh, and here's a TM..." he continued, reaching into his fireproof jacket. "Keep it," Goliath said calmly, in his Michael Dorn-like voice. "We have no need for such pyrotechnic pleasantries." Then he and David turned and started to leave. As David passed the pillar behind which Kyle and Thanatos were taking cover, however, he pointed directly at Kyle and said, "Oh, don't let yourselves think I can't see ya over there." David headed over to the pillar very casually, a slight grin on his face. "Y' got lucky today, mate," he said to Kyle. "I'm in a good mood, so I won't send out my good pal Rampage the Rhydon to dump a truckload o' whoop-ass on ya right now. But cross my path again..." Kyle said defiantly, "I don't think you're in any position to make threats, considering how soundly my Pokémon clobbered yours in Viridian City and Lavender Town." David just leaned his head back and let out a guttural laugh. "Ah, but ya 'aven't met Rampage yet! He's sent more than one trainer into early retirement, and a whole lotta Pokémon t' early graves..." "So, he's a murderer, eh?" Kyle responded. "Well, that'll just make things all the more interesting for my Machamp or my Dragonite when they inevitably throw down on Rampage's scaly ass." "That remains t' be seen, kiddo," David snorted, still grinning. "G' day t' ya." Then he and Goliath headed for the gym exit. Then Kyle and his crew walked over to Blaine. On the way Espio asked who the Australian guy was, and Kyle said he would explain later. Blaine took one look at Kyle and said, "I take it you're my next challenger?" "Ummm...no, Blaine. More like a past challenger," Kyle answered, showing off his Volcanobadge. "Oh, yeah, I remember you now," Blaine responded. "You beat my Rapidash with a Scyther, right?" "That would be me," Kyle replied. "So what do you want? A rematch? A trade, perhaps?" Blaine grinned, glancing at Espio. "I just dropped by to get the TM you forgot to give me after I won this badge." Blaine's grin turned into a look of disappointment. "Is that all?" He reached into his jacket and pulled out a TM, then handed it to Kyle. "'Kay then, there you go. Now off with you." So Kyle, Thanatos and Espio headed for the exit. Panopticon watched in utter silence as David and Goliath left the gym, and continued watching as Kyle and his team exited shortly thereafter. Panopticon activated his comlink and tuned in to a different frequency from hat of his master. Eventually a reply came over the comlink, in a voice reminiscent of Malcolm MacDowell's: "Praetor Proteus reporting." "Thisss isss High Templar Panopticon..." "Ah, the master's loyal terrier seeks my wisdom," Proteus replied snidely, flaunting his high rank. "What do you want?" "Have you been dissspatched to Pokémon Island yet?" "I am en route to Pokémon Island as we speak. Is there a problem, Templar?" "Not at all. I merely wanted to inform you that I have the sssituation well under control. Ssso I mussst sssuggessst that you avoid involving yourssself in thisss foray. I sssuggessst sssuch for your own good, of courssse." "Well, pardon my not putting credence in your judgement...but you failed the master miserably in an 'under control' situation once already, in Cerulean City," Proteus shot back. "And might I add, you seem to be forgetting your place in the master's army, *Templar*." Proteus emphasized the last word, again flaunting his rank. "You are in no position to give me suggestions." There was a pause. "I will continue on to Pokémon Island unheeded, and fulfill the master's demands with no further interference from you. Is that understood?" Panopticon grudgingly replied, "Yesss, Praetor." "Perhaps there is hope for you yet, Templar. Praetor Proteus out." With that, Panopticon shut off his comlink again and started to follow David and Goliath. "David...did you hear that?" Goliath asked at one point, as he heard the distinct whirring and clanking of Panopticon's cyber-gear behind him. "I heard nothin', mate," David answered. "It was a metallic whirring noise, like that of a motor," Goliath noted. Seconds later, Goliath was lambasted in the back with a plasma blast and sent flying forward. "What in bloody 'ell..." David whirled around, and Panopticon deactivated his cloaking device, once again becoming plainly visible. "David Bradley...asss an empowered individual, you have been chosssen to ssserve my massster," hissed Panopticon. "You will sssurrender now and come quietly with me or be beaten into sssubmisssion and be unceremoniousssly carried with me againssst your will. Take your pick." "'Empowered?'" David asked. "What're ya babblin' -" "Very well then," Panopticon said. With lightning speed, Panopticon gave David a sickle-claw kick to the head, shocking him with a powerful electric current. Stunned and with a bloody claw mark across his face, David fell to his knees, then to his face. Panopticon lifted David up and slung him over his shoulder, then keyed in the coordinates on his personal teleporter to warp back to base. Kyle and crew heard the ZAP of the current from nearby, and ran over to investigate. Kyle stopped dead upon seeing Panopticon. "Holy mother of Goddish...! It's that cyber-saur that was chasing Jessica back in Cerulean!" "...But why in bloody 'ell is he takin' that Team Rocket bloke?" Thanatos wondered. The team watched as Panopticon teleported David away, then did the same thing to Goliath. Panopticon pushed one last button on his teleporter and disappeared in a purple flash of light. "Whatever reason he has for taking David and Goliath, it's nothing good. We've already established that that cyber-saur is evil...but if he isn't a friend of Team Rocket, then it means we could have an even bigger problem on our hands..." "That Australian guy and his Golem were members of Team Rocket?" Espio noted. "Well, what do we care if that giant lizard gets rid of them? It'll make life easier for us." "When we fought that lizard in Cerulean City, he said he was serving a greater power," Kyle replied. "It could be that he's turning the people he's capturing into slaves, not getting rid of them. And in that case, it could potentially make life a whole lot worse. Think about what might happen if he could get control of Sabrina, or even that Dreadite guy we've heard about." "We'll cross that bridge when we come to it," Espio said, rather relaxed about the whole thing. "Now let's get to the lab, and find out what Torrasque has been doing." Meanwhile, in the Cinnabar Island Laboratories, Professor Richter was leading the curious Torrasque and his pet Pikachu directly into the main genetics lab. "Welcome back to your birthplace, Torrasque," the Professor announced, as they finally entered the room where Torrasque had been created more than six years ago. Torrasque took a quick look around, and greeted the scientists he knew very well. "You've upgraded your technology since I was here last," Torrasque commented, seeing highly advanced machinery he had never seen before. "Kachupi," Cathode remarked. "Very much so," the Professor responded to Torrasque. "But our new technology isn't what I brought you here to see." Torrasque was led to the far wall of the room, along which many huge glass tubes, filled with greenish fluid and hooked up to all sorts of computers, stood. Most of the tubes were just full of fluid, but the Professor stopped in front of one tube that apparently had something else inside it. Torrasque could not exactly tell what was inside; the glass of this particular tube was fogged up with condensation. The Professor then wiped a bit of the condensation away, enough that Torrasque could plainly see a sleeping, light red Scyther within the tube. The Professor grinned and said, "Torrasque, this is Atropos." Torrasque wiped away more of the condensation. His eyes lit up. "She's beautiful..." "Over time we realized that if your brain was as human as we thought, you'd be getting lonely without a female Scyther of comparable intellect," the Professor explained. "So we decided to make one for you. Though this time the process we're using is considerably different. Whereas it took you roughly two years to fully develop and mature, Atropos here is being pumped full of a hormone that will have her fully mature in practically no time at all." "But...how will she learn anything if she's maturing inside a tube?" Torrasque asked. "That's the amazing part. Do you know of Bill, from Cerulean City?" "Who doesn't?" Torrasque replied. "Well, not long ago he invented a device that can copy and translate entire human consciousnesses into digital information." Professor Richter picked up an odd-looking computer disk from a lab desk. "We contacted him about it, and he sent us this disk to help in our experiment. This disk contains the entire digitized consciousness of one of Bill's female friends. We are simply going to translate the digital information back into what it was originally and then feed that information into Atropos's brain. By the time we let her out of that tube, she'll be thinking adult human thoughts." "Did Bill happen to mention which of his female friends he took this consciousness from?" "No...all he mentioned was that she was in her late teens, and of high intelligence." "Oh. Well, when will Atropos here be ready to wake up?" "The consciousness-dubbing process, as we like to call it, will take about two weeks. Then Atropos will be up and slashing." "Cool...I'll be back, then," said Torrasque. "Ka-chu," added Cathode, with a flick of one rabbity ear. Then the Professor led Torrasque and Cathode back to the main exit, and waved goodbye cheerily as they exited. No sooner had Torrasque and Cathode left the laboratories than Kyle, Espio and Thanatos came running up. "I've got great news," Torrasque announced, grinning from tympanum to tympanum. "We've got terrible news," Kyle responded, frowning. So Torrasque told them the story of Atropos, and Kyle told him the story of Panopticon. "Yikes..." Torrasque commented, after the newsflash about Panopticon had been dispensed. "Well, that just makes my day..." His grin faded. "I don't want to sound like I'm interrupting anything," Espio began, "but don't we have somewhere else to go now? Preferably away from any evil, mysterious cyber-velociraptors?" "Right," said Kyle. "I guess we shouldn't let this cyber-saur business screw up our journey...we're off to Pokémon Island next." "Ah, the ol' hangout. I wonder how the family's doing?" Espio wondered. Kyle released Grendel and got on to the Aerodactyl's back, then beamed a hesitant Espio into a Pokéball. "To Pokémon Island," Kyle commanded Grendel. Grendel squawked "Aeeero!" then took off, followed by the floating Thanatos. Torrasque made sure Cathode had a firm grip, took one last look at the Cinnabar Island Laboratories, then got a running start and took off after his comrades. Fanart of Panopticon is to be released soon... (I know Beth will appreciate that!) ^_^ --K * A * R * N * I * V * A * X-- "Awesome! I'm poisonous! Those idiots who work at McDonald's won't forget to give me napkins and fancy ketchup ever again..." --Torrasque Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Share what you know. Learn what you don't.