From: Ig88sw82 <ig88sw82@aol.com> Subject: [PW!] Words of Discouragement Date: Thursday, June 03, 1999 11:26 PM "You go ahead and battle," Mark said as Ebony was accepting Misty's challenge. "I'm going to the Pokécenter." Ebony winked. "Come back soon." --- Nurse Joy carefully took the tray of Pokéballs and Oddish from Mark. "Your Pokémon will be in shape in no time. Feel free to check out our PC in the corner." "What would I use that for?" Although he had studied for a long time about Pokémon, Mark wasn't very experienced with the aspects of a trainer's life, and was constantly learning new things. "The PC is for all of your transactions. You can deposit your excess Pokémon, hold any extra items, or contact Professor Oak. You can also surf the Internet, all free of charge." "Wow, thanks," and he wandered over to the computer. As he booted up the PC, a window appeared asking for his name. He typed in "Mark", and a menu popped up. He double-clicked on "Pokénet" and logged on. <>NEWSFLASH<> Murderer on rampage! Mark didn't feel like reading the news, so he went to the next one: <>How to catch PokéGods!<> <>HM06<> <>Catch Yoshi!<> "Where did these stupid rumors come from?" he murmured as he scanned through the junk posts. Why are there always so many advertisements? <>Do you believe in Goddish?<> "I'm not the religious type." Suddenly he heard a chime. "YOU'VE GOT MAIL." Mark clicked the cursor on the e-mail. To: Mark; From: ProfOak@Pallet.com; "Hello MARK. This is Professor Oak. Just checking up on your progress. By now you probably have caught about 20 Pokémon, I would think, and have probably earned a few badges. Just thought I'd send these few words of encouragement. Good luck, and happy hunting!" Mark groaned. This e-mail was anything but encouraging. He only had 5 Pokémon, and 2 badges. If this was meant to help him out, it was failing miserably. Then, the screen blacked out for about 8 seconds, and a message popped up: WILD MISSINGNO. APPEARED! Then the computer shut down. "What was that?" he wondered. Nurse Joy looked at the PC, then sighed. "We caught the Missingno. virus again! I'm sorry." "No problem, I was leaving anyway." "Well, your Pokémon are fighting fit!" She gave him his Pokémon back, and he tossed the balls into his pack. "Thanks!" he waved goodbye as he headed back to the Cerulean Gym to meet Ebony. ------