From: Spawn <nmvds@aol.computers> Subject: [PW!] Conversation w/ the Shady Magikarp Dealer Date: Friday, July 16, 1999 2:41 PM Continued from [PW!] The TR-BOT and the Rare Candies > "Now look," Steve said, "I know this is a tough challenge up ahead. But if >there's was one place that was perfect to stage a battle, it's here. This is >a >warehouse of a major producer of Pokemon products. Here, you can find >vitamins. You can find full heals and max revives and max elixirs and max >repels." > > "Steve," SPAWN began, "Pokemon repellent is ineffective on stronger >Pokemon." > > "Then scratch max repels," Steve said. "We can do it. Will it be an easy >battle? No. But it will be a necessary one." > > "I suppose we don't have a choice, do we?" Saber asked. > > "Not really," said Steve. > > "Then count me in," Saber replied. > > "Okay then," Steve smiled. "Now, we don't have much time to outline a plan, >but I'll start working on it now. > Steve began to go through supplies and frantically stuffed them into the cars trunk for the upcoming battle. At first he started to feel a little guilty about having to steal from Pokesoft, until he remember what Gil Bates did to him. Besides, a bottle of vitamins that cost $9800 at a store probably only cost a nickel to produce. The loss on the companies part was probably minimal. "Well, let's see here..." he began, "everyone get out your Pokemon. We need to toughen them up a bit before we can began. I say we only have an hour before the Magikarp start to evolve and turn psychotic, perhaps two hours max." Everyone did as told. Karen got out her Jolteon, Psyduck, Charmander, Jigglypuff, Abra and Oddish. She knew that her Diglett and Sandshrew wouldn't do well. Saber got his Gyarados, Oddish, Koffing, Kadabra and Pidgey. Steve got out his own Gyarados, his own Pidgey, his Butterfree and Jynx. "I shouldn't have left my Pokemon back at the garage," Mark lamented. Steve wasn't quite done. He sat in the drivers seat and went to the computer. "What are you doing?" Karen asked. "Getting out an old buddy of mine I haven't seen in a while," said Steve. "The only one still loyal to me after I lost my memory. SPAWN, access Bill's PC storage system and withdraw my Clefable for me." The car obeyed, and a minute later a laser shot out from the front. Clefable materialized for him, and a smile began to appear on Steve's face. "It's been a long time," he said. "Cle-faaaaable!" she replied. Steve cringed at the annoying voice, but knew she was a valuable asset for the team. "SPAWN, check out what moves she has," Steve requested. "You don't know?" Saber asked. "It's a long story," Karen explained, "and we don't have any time to tell it." "Clefable appears to have the following moves," SPAWN said as it scanned over the pink Pokemon with a series of lasers, 'Metronome. Hyper Beam. Light Screen. And Minimize." "Perfect," Steve smiled. "Mark, since you don't really have any Pokemon, you're going to have to be the aide and go around running errands. It'll your job to make sure we don't run out of supplies. Can you handle that?" "Sure," he smiled. "Great," Steve replied, "now get me a soda." "Why?" "Cause I'm thirsty!" "Mark," Karen added, "could you get me one too?" "Saber, you want one too?" Mark asked. "Sure," Saber responded. "Okay," Steve said as he watched Mark leave. "Right now, we have to prep our Pokemon up for battle. We have protein for attack power. Iron for defense. Carbs for speed. Calcium for specialness. The label says you should wait 8 hours between doses. We're going to have to shorten that interval a bit. Fortunately, we have 'X Attack,' 'X Defend,' etc. for the battle itself." "So how are we going to organize this fight?" asked Saber. "That lake has to be a mile in perimeter." "We're going to have to separate," Steve sighed. "Unfortunately, I don't think there's much of a way to shout commands over long distances. Even with SPAWN's externals speakers, it'd be difficult. Not to mention with all the sound coming from the lake itself when the calamity starts." "Steve, what about telepathy?" Karen asked. "Telepathy?" Steve repeated confused. "Karen, none of us are psychic." "Not us," Karen began, "but Abra is. He can read my thoughts. And I'm pretty sure he could transmit them long distances with ease to my Pokemon." "That's... brilliant..." Steve began. "Do you really think you'll really be able to pull that off?" "I'm pretty sure I can," said Karen. "Okay, new plan," Steve said. "Karen, you'll stay in SPAWN, safe as can be. I don't think your Grandpa would approve of you getting killed anyway, and as of now you and your Abra are the most valuable assets we have. I'll help administer the potions with the two Pidgeys. We have plenty of Max elixirs, Max revives and full heals here. I'll use one Pidgey to administer the defensive potions for healing and another for the offensive ones to help with the actual battles. Meanwhile, Mark will help me keep the supplies up. Maybe we could boot up a few TMs while we're at it." Karen stepped into the car and began to familiarize herself with the driver's seat for the first time as Steve went through the warehouse to look for their TM section. "If any of you need me, just use your Pokedex," she said, "but keep in mind I'll be a little distracted." "Understood," Steve smiled, "and Karen... I want you to have something." "What?" she asked. Steve reached into his jacket and pulled out two badges. "You deserve them," Steve said. "Steve... I couldn't..." she began. "Trust me, I don't need them," Steve smiled. "And I'd probably lose them anyway. But you deserve them. If it weren't for your Psyduck, I wouldn't have beaten Brock. And if it weren't for the care you showed for my Magikarp and your moving speech at Cerulean City, I would have never gotten a sympathy badge from Misty. Sympathy badges are the way of the future, Karen. It's how Ash Ketchum became the League Champ. What I'm trying to say is that you earned these, Karen. And I hope that if I make it out of this disaster, I can watch you earn more badges in the future." "You'll make it, Steve," Karen assured. "I'm guessing the folks in Vegas would say otherwise," Steve smiled, "but seriously, I really want you to have them." Karen was touched as she placed the two badges into the glove compartment. "I don't know what to say..." said Karen. "You don't have to say anything," Steve replied, "your talent speaks for itself." Steve sighed. It was the journey of life all over again. Showing faith for things that others did not. In Karen's case, even she didn't see faith in her own abilities. And so Steve had to help her. Had to show her all she could be if she just gave herself a chance. And yet there was a dark side to this too. The Magikarp. Very few people had faith in those creatures either. Except for maybe Steve. But Steve knew something that the others didn't, that the Magikarp were survivors and that with a little hope and a little love they could turn into something grand. Steve had this hope for Karen. Only now there was a sinister twist on things. The Magikarp weren't going to turn into something grand or special. They would turn into something psychotic and with a need to kill. And there was little he could do about it. Except fight back with his own Pokemon. Suddenly, his brief experience thinking about Karen and the Gyarados was interrupted. "Hiya, I'm a shady dealer!" said a man. "I go all around the world selling Magikarp to people who supposedly don't know any better but subconsciously realize their potential. I've heard that these Magikarp are being drugged with rare candy, and they may be just what I'm looking for." "I don't follow," said Steve. "I want to sell delayed evolution Magikarp," the man continued, "ones that are just itching to learn their most advanced moves to newbie trainers looking for an easy way to have a super team everywhere. Of course, I only sell it to people who don't know it evolves, so first they're surprised when all it does is a useless move like splash and then they're surprised when it suddenly evolves." "What do you mean?" Karen asked. "You know the same old tired tale," he explained. "A trainer takes Magikarp out to battle, shouts, 'Magikarp, you suck!' Then it evolves for no real reason. And they're happy because they didn't even have to bother training it! And of course, they're always totally obedient when they turn into Gyarados. Even though by all means the Magikarp was completely wild, Gyarados tend to be *extremely* hostile, and the trainers haven't shown much of a reason for the Gyarados to obey them, especially since they owned them for so short of a time. "Heck, in the rare occasion that the Magikarp *are* used to watch how good of a trainer it is that own them, 90% of the time the trainer has a lame storyline where they're losing and only throws in the Magikarp as a last resort, only to watch it evolve for no real reason and save the day. Why a wild Gyarados would respect a perfect stranger as a trainer whom rarely used them and who almost *lost* is beyond me." "Why don't you just fish for normal Magikarp?" Steve asked. "Because normal Magikarp behave normally," he replied. "They would behave just how one would expect them to in a logical world which would be a semi-realistic adaptation of the game. In other words, they take forever to evolve. Because, let's face it, if every single one of the trillions of Magikarp out there was destined to evolve in Gyarados, we'd be in a heap of trouble." "You mean like now?" Steve asked. "Sorry, bad choice of words," he said. "Anyway, people don't include me in there stories if I sell them a normal Magikarp. They only include me in a story if I sell them a Magikarp that's just one experience point away from evolving and would evolve if I just *glared* at them aggressively. That way, they don't have to bother any time doing... what's that word? Oh yes, 'raising' them. Because people want all the reward of having a Gyarados with none of the trouble." "Why don't you just sell them a Gyarados directly?" Karen asked. "That would save a lot of trouble. I suppose it'd be hard to find a Gyarados in the wild, but I'm guessing it'd be even harder to find a Magikarp that would be as eager to evolve as the ones you sell." "Because authors think they're being 'clever' by buying one from a shady dealer and have it evolve for no apparent reason," he said. "Of course, they may actually be right--if not for the fact that everyone else does it." "Sorry, but all of these Magikarp are going to end up being psychotic and will probably have cancer," Steve warned. "Oh really?" he said. "Darn. Well, good luck on your battle." Steve sighed nervously as Mark finally came up running and delivered him, Saber and Karen a soda. "Thanks," Steve shouted as he took a swig, "we'll need it. And Mark?" "Yes?" "You need to go a little faster." In the distance, the air began to swirl and an approaching storm could be heard in the distance. What ever was going to happen was going to happen soon. TBC -Spawn "Wise Pokemon trainers never get involved in a cat fight" -Brock To reply, remove "puters" from the e-mail address.