From: Dryad48 <dryad48@aol.com> Subject: [PW!][ATR] A Lock Without a Key Date: Saturday, July 24, 1999 10:03 PM Summary of Previous Post: [PW!][ATR] Paranoia's Truth A great many things happened to Derrick as he was keeping the rockets at bay. At the same time, Sirius and Tank were trying to find their way around the basement in search of a control room which could reactivate the propellers. If these propellers are activated, the entire island would rise. _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ "Damn medication, GO AWAY! LEAVE ME ALONE!" Derrick grabbed his head, ran and ran and ran, and smashed his head into a mirror. Sirius: "The drug has kicked in by now." "The voices. . . . . . . . . . . . . . they're gone." Derrick looked at the cracked mirror and saw he was still wearing the Team Rocket uniform. He started admiring himself in the mirror. Derrick: "Derrick, you joined Anti-Team Rocket so your parents could reside here in safety, THINK AGAIN, you're on the wrong side." Derrick: "Don't even think about it! Don't forget what you said two years ago. . . . . . . . . . . . . Derrick dropped to the floor and cried. "I remember.." "Remember what?" Derrick recognized the voice of the real Sirius, but fainted again. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Where am I?" Derrick got off the ground and found he was in a very dark, cold place. Down one side, it looked blacker than the blackest black. Along the other, there was a dim light at the end. "Follow the light," he thought. He began to attempt to walk, but he had a sense of not moving his legs. He reached out his hand to touch them, but felt nothing, nor the warmth of his hand. In a sense, he must have drifted over to the light. When he looked up, he was a few paces in front of it. Inspecting it more closely, Derrick found it was the outline of a door. ". . . . . . ." was all he could say, for now, only his mind existed in such a barren space. Derrick tried to open the door, though he had no control of his hands and was unsure if they were actually there. A feeling struck over him and all he could think was, "The door is locked." And yet he layed not a finger on the simple object. Then, it happened, for some reason, Derrick just knew for sure without reason, or faith, that the door would refuse to exert itself. "I need a key," he thought. But how could a key open the thing that was shaped like a door, when matter existed not on his side? "Am. . . . . . .I. . . . . . .dead. . . . . . .?" Was they key stolen? Was the lock broken? Was he not supposed to go that way? "NOOO!" A geisha with a japanese fan materialized hauntingly, and slapped him across the face with the fan. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - "Huuuuuuhhhhhuuuuuuuuhhhuuuuu...." Derrick breathed heavily and held his face in pain. His eyes were a blur and he was back in a dim lighted room. "Sorry." Derrick's eyes came back into focus and he could se the outline of a very much exausted Tank. "What happened?" "You had a bad dream that's all..." "A...... dream? But why did you slap me?" "Derrick..... your temperature was dropping fast. I thought you were..." Derrick got up. "No time to explain," he made up. "Where's Sirius?" "Oh, HIM. He abandoned us," Tank replied angrily. "Must have no confidence in ATR or something." He dragged Derrick into a low lighted room and flicked a switch. The room lighted up fast. A HUGE computer lay in front of them, cobwebs and dust covering it. There were smaller machines on the left side of the room. One apeared to be that pokemon healing machine that is in the pokemon center. Another was an electric, pika power generator. And the final machine was neither recognized by Derrick nor Tank. Derrick's mind became blank and his mouth dropped open. "Hehe, I know, wow. That's what I thought when I first entered this room." "But, why did Simon make this off limits? The computer is HUGE!" "Hmmm, either Team Rocket had something to do with it, or something else." Tank scratched his head. "But hey, we've wasted enough time babbling! Now how do we turn the computer on?" "We could try the on switch." "I did. Nothing happened." "It must be out of power." Derrick examined the computer and noticed an exceptionally wide wire was hooked up and leading somewhere. He followed it until it lead him to the left wing of the room. "The Pika Generator, of course!" Tank rushed over to the generator and switched it on. "Any minute now, we can hear the delightful sounds of 'pika pika chu chu.'" They waited. the humming noise started up and they waited. "Uh... nothing's happening Tank.." "Impossible." Tank opened the generator and instead of cute lil' pikachu's, there were smelly lil' skeletons. Tank slapped his forehead, "Oh yeah! I guess we forgot to take out the pikachu and feed 'em!" He turned to Derrick. got an electric pokemon?" "Actually, yes." Derrick sent out Magneton and placed it inside the generator. "It's all up to you now, Magneton.... make the others envy you." In no time, the generator powered up the computer and the other two machines. Derrick sat at the computer and waited for it to boot up. "For the first time since Cerulean, things are starting to look up." >Warning, unknown user, please speak password< the computer actually spoke in a high techie voice. >Refrain from moving<. Suddenly, holes in the wall appeared and started making clicking noises. "Hidden guns," thought Derrick. "We're history." "Dang," Tank spoke to himself, "such a high tech security system." Then he blurted out by accident, "Simon, you're a genious!" "Why thank you!" The guns went back in the walls. "Huh?" Derrick thought. "Whwhwhwhas that Simon's voice?" "I know, I know," the computer spoke. "you think it's Simon trapped in the computer, but it isn't. This is an encoded program." The computer switched screens. "There is only one reason why you are down in this old control center, Team Rocket must finally have discovered this place and there is a war being waged." "How did you....?" "Whether it's been months, years, or even centuries, you must understand that this computer has been given a specfic program to instruct you to reactivate the island. And if it hasn't been too long, I must assume you, you who have opened to door, are Raven. I allways thought I'd trust in you. You're probably a leader or something!" "How does he know...?" "By now, you must be asking the big question, where am I? The real Simon?" "Yeah! Yeah!" Tank was eager while Derrick just listened to the jump in technology. "Days before I programmed this, I found out that people were being hired to find, and kill me. Well, I knew they would eventually identify my location, so, to ensure the safety of you and the other ATR's I will be going into hiding. Sorry to say this, but you may never see me again. I may be in hiding, or I may have crossed over to the other side by the time you hear this." "If only Raven were here to listen..." Tank said. "No need to worry, I've got it coppied onto this disc. So, this Simon must be great," Derrick answered. "Are you kidding? He's DA MAN!" Derrick clicked on the next menu. "Thanks for patiently listening to what I had to say. No rocket would have done that, so now I am ensured you are who I think, I must help you in revitalizing this island, for the sake of all the people who stand up to my beliefs, you must go now! Exit the door behind me!" The computer screen gave a bright green flash and faded away to become blank again. "Wait! Simon!" Tank pushed Derrick out of the way and typed to get the machine back on again. "Tank..... it's only a machine. The real Simon is gone, and you'll have to learn to except that." "It's... too much to bear." Out of a hole, a weird shape appeared. Derrick picked it up and examined it. Then he placed it in a matching hole by the door. The door opened immediately. "This technology, it's so advanced." Derrick and Tank walked through. "Whoah!" They found they were outside. There was a ceiling and walls, but they could see through the floor. "And this is the basement? It's soo high!" "Here it is." Tank pointed to a small metal box and opened it. "Finally, the controls for the propellers." He pushed the buttons and the island suddenly started shaking. Derrick could see the waves forming under the already rising island. Screams from both TR and ATR could be heard as they slipped of the edge and plummetted to the murky depths. the floor started cracking from the vibrations. "I think it's time we be going back inside." "Good idea." Just before they went back to the control room, the floor shattered and the door behind them shut for repairs. "Whew! That was a close call." The island rose higher and higher so many of the bloody battles being fought ceased when they realized they were rising. "But I know Raven and James will continue to fight for us." To Be Continued This story is dedicated to Simon for everything he did for the Pokemon Wars. ATR vs. TR Theme Medication by Garbage (I know I will mess up somewhere in the lyrics, and I cut out some parts I forgot completely) I don't need an education I learnt all I need from you They got me on some medication My point of balance was askew It keeps my temperature from rising My blood is pumping through my veins Somebody get me out of here I'm tearin at myself Nobody gives a damn about me or anybody else... I wrapped myself up in the moment You're asleep when I get home Please don't call me self dependant You know it cuts me to the bone Though it's really not surprising I hold a force I can't contain Somebody get me out of here Tearin at myself Nobody gives a damn about me Or anybody else....... Somebody get me out of here Tearin at myself I've got to make a point these days To educate myself Somebody get me out of here Tearin at myself Nobody gives a damn about me Or anybody .....else..... _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ ~Dryad48 "Bolt the door to keep it shut." "I've got to make a point these days to educate myself." "You can't fool everyone all of the time."