Subject: [PW!] Gone Fishin' Date: Fri, 09 Jul 1999 00:28:18 -0400 From: Continue <continue2@mindspring.com> Organization: MindSpring Enterprises Newsgroups: alt.games.nintendo.pokemon Time Lady wrote: >"Me too," said Sarah Jane. "I just have a couple of small problems...." >She glanced at Spunky and Cuddles, who were wrestling. "They're not >used to being in their Pokeballs, and I don't want to leave them alone >with just Shields." Then she glances at Damian. "Say Damian..... you >wouldn't mind babysitting for a few hours, would you?" > >"Huh? Me?" Damian facefaulted. > >"They should be fine with you and Drake," she replied as she >rummaged through her pack. "Here's some of their Pokechow if they >get hungry, and a few toys to keep them busy. They should be fine >playing on their own, just don't let them wander too far." She handed >Damian the leashes, then bent over to the two Nidorans. "You two >behave. Mind Damian, Drake, and Shields." Then she turned to her >Mr. Mime. "You go along with them. Make sure Cuddles and >Spunky stay out of trouble." Sarah Jane handed Drake the supplies. > >"But...." began Damian. > >"Hey, we better get started before it gets any later," said Christy. > >"Yeah, come on," said Jon excitedly. > >"But...." Damian found himself standing alone in the Pokemon Center >with his Dragonite, a Mr. Mime, and two tussling Nidorans. >"Sigh....." Damian struggled to stay in one place as he tried to hold onto the leashes and stay in one place at the same time. Drake took the opportunity to stuff the pokechow he had been handed into his bag and gave all but one of the toys to Shields. Since its vision had been blocked by the bulky toys, the Mr. Mime immediately started to wobble about as if it was having difficulty keeping everything balanced while lifting a heavy load. Cuddles and Spunky quickly bought into it and ran up to Shields and began to shove at its legs. After a little of this, Shields playfully gave in and "spilled" the toys on the floor. The two young Nidorans quickly pounced on the pile of fallen toys and began wrestling with them. During this time, Drake had a pleased look on his face. The pleasure stemmed from the Dragonite not having to guard his tail from attack for once. At the same time, Damian got a far away look in his eyes. The look abruptly terminated shortly after the toy spillage. "Drake, we're right on the sea aren't we?" The dragonite's expression changed to mild confusion at the question that was posed to him. In response to it he slowly nodded an affirmative. "Okay, why don't you help Shields gather up Cuddles and Spunky and their toys." Drake turned to fully face Damian and put his hands on his hips. At the same time his eyebrows lowered and he pursed his lips to give an impression of questioning and dissatisfaction at the same time. Damian reasoned "Since we're near the sea, now's a good chance to try to catch a good water pokemon like a Cloyster, or a Seadra, or even a Staryu." Drake shrugged and started to gather things up. The young trainer with the Magnemite faithfully circling his head led the procession of pokemon out of the center and into the city. After he realized he had no idea where he was going, Damian stopped to ask for directions. Once he explained the situation he was pointed in the direction of a small shop that rented fishing rods. Shortly thereafter, the human led pokemon squad reached their destination. The fishing shop was much like any other that you would see in a seaside community. It was a small one-story building made out of wood that had long since turned gray from the atmosphere that it stood in. With some difficulty the group made it inside and over to the counter without breaking anything in the crowded shop. The man behind the counter looked as if he had seen many years of fishing himself. He had a ruddy complexion with some gray stubble for a beard. His belly was round from long periods of doing nothing but sitting and waiting. However, his arms were powerfully muscled from many battles of sheer strength with a variety of creatures that had fought with all they could to escape. "Uh, I'd like to rent a fishing pole and some bait." Damian asked with trepidation as he looked across the counter at the imposing figure who sat behind it. The man grunted and spoke in a gravely voice "Mmm. What else is new. That'll be 400." Damian's eyes went wide and he sweatdropped. "That's all I have left." he thought to himself. The man had gotten up and started to slowly trudge the dozen feet between him and the rack of rods on the wall. Once he got there he grabbed a rod and a bucket off the shelf next to the rods. As the man started to make his way back Damian's eyes returned to normal and he actually smiled. "If I bring out Kaboodle for some training, I can kill two Fearows with one stone." was the thought that caused this change of expression on his part. Damian handed the coins over to the large man once he resumed his seat. The man grunted out "If you want a good spot, try the cliffs. Hard to catch anything from the beach. Rod's due back by sunset. Don't stick yourself with the hook, it hurts." The young trainer thanked the man and carefully made his way, making sure Bulletproof didn't knock anything off the shelves in the aisles. A short while later, the group found themselves down by the beaches and located the gentle, sandy slopes that led up to cliffs overlooking the sea. The human and trailing pokemon stopped as they made it to the edge of the cliff. Damian looked over the edge and saw that they weren't that far up. He guessed that it was probably only thirty feet to the water below. After seeing he looked out over the water to see some swimmers in the distance enjoying the cool ocean waters during the bright, sunny day. He then set down the fishing equipment and removed his backpack. After a quick search he found and removed his pokedex and to punch some buttons. "Might as well make the most of the time and get some of my other pokemon out for some training. I wonder what level that Kabutops that I picked up is..." the young trainer pressed some more buttons as he did said this. The pokedex finally beeped at Damian. He read the screen for a second before he facefaulted. "This can't be right. Hey, Drake! Come over here! I think my pokedex is malfunctioning and I want to test it." The dragonite slowly backed towards Damian, making sure not to take his eyes off Cuddles and Spunky, who had become restless from having to behave themselves for so long a period while toys were in plain sight. When Drake had gotten close enough, Damian pointed the pokedex at him and pressed a couple of buttons. He managed to avoid the facefault this time. "Are you really at this high a level?" The dragonite looked at the screen. He then put his hand on his chin and looked up thoughtfully for a minute before turning back to Damian and nodding. "I know you haven't gained that many levels while I've had you. How did your original trainer keep losing?" In response the dragonite sighed and hung his head while slowly shaking it. "That bad, huh?" Drake nodded in answer to the question. "I guess that Kabutops really is that experienced, then." He started pressing buttons and examined the screen carefully. His brow quickly furrowed and stayed that way for several minutes. There was a crash that signified that Cuddles and Spunky couldn’t restrain themselves any longer. This seemed to revive Damian who looked up to see Shields trying to get both young Nidorans under control. If this had been a looney tunes cartoon, Bulletproof would have been crowded away from Damian’s head by the light bulb that suddenly appeared over it when he saw this. He started punching buttons with renewed purpose, then retrieved four pokeballs from his backpack. After putting away the pokedex he popped open the pokeballs, increasing the size of the crowd of pokemon. The newcomers were a Kabutops, Persian, Scyther, and Hitmonchan. "Okay, I hope you can understand this. Blade, Bruiser, " the Scyther and Hitmonchan stopped looking at the new location in which they found themselves and regarded their trainer, "I want both of you to try to take on Kabutops." He pointed between them and the three pokemon looked at each other in turn. "Kabutops is more experienced, so I want you two to back each other up, so you won’t be hurt." The face of a Kabutops isn’t very expressive, so its voice had to convey its confusion. "Kabu?" Bruiser responded. "Chan monchan. Hit hit chan." Blade and Kabutops both nodded and the three pokemon assumed fighting stances with Bruiser and Blade facing the more experienced Kabutops. Damian’s eyebrows shot up "Wow, I guess they did understand me." He turned to Drake "I’m going to have Kaboodle help me with trying to catch water pokemon. That way he can get some experience, I can get a water pokemon, and I can get more money all at the same time. What I want you to do is help Shields keep Cuddles and Spunky entertained so they don’t wander off." The dragonite raised his hand with index finger pointed and opened his mouth as if to protest. It was at that moment that Spunky chose to pounce on Drake’s tail with a triumphant "Nido!". The dragon pokemon hung his head in resignation at the realization that he didn’t really have a choice in the matter. Damian snickered and turned to walk over to the rented fishing equipment with Kaboodle. After a few minutes Damian had managed to get the bait on the hook without impaling himself. He then moved the rod back and quickly swung it forward and watched the line sail into the ocean. When there had been no response on the line after a few minutes, the young trainer sat down next to his Persian, who was already lying down. He began to idly stroke the cougar-sized feline and sighed after a short while. "Sometimes I wonder if it was a good idea for mom and dad to send you on this trip with me." At this the Persian turned its head and looked at him. "I mean if you were at home you could get at least a little attention every day. Out on my trip here, I’ve barely gotten the chance to pay attention to you with all the other pokemon that I’ve managed to catch." He took the opportunity to give Bulletproof a glance as the Magnemite circled in front of his eyes. "Pretty much the only time you’re brought out of your ball is to eat or fight. It doesn’t seem fair to you." Kaboodle growled. Damian stopped petting the pokemon and looked at him. "Do you want to go back home?" The persian growled again. "Then what is it? Do you like being on the trip?" The cat pokemon began to purr lightly. The young trainer began stroking the oversized cat again. "I guess being on the trip isn’t that different from being at home. There probably isn’t much to do while in the pokeball except sleep. Since you do a lot of that normally, it isn’t too bad. When you come out you get the chance to eat or play. The schedule isn’t your choice, but you still get the chance to do everything that you’ve always done. Not the worst way to—" Suddenly the line jerked and Damian pulled on it hard to keep either it or himself from getting pulled off the cliff and into the water below. "This isn’t as easy as I thought it would be!" Damian started to lose ground, but stopped moving just a moment thereafter. He didn’t question, he just set the line and began to reel it in. He didn’t take notice that once again Bulletproof had stopped circling his head. Kaboodle stood up now that something was happening. The young trainer had great expectations of what would come up as he slowly reeled in the line. And as the line made its way back a pokemon finally appeared. It was a Tentacool. Damian’s excitement immediately turned to disappointment upon sighting the blue jellyfish pokemon. "At least you can still get some experience from this, and I can get some money. Kaboodle, Pay Day!" The persian whipped its head and a glowing golden coin shot out from the red gem on its forehead. It struck the Tentacool with a loud, metallic "Ding!", followed shortly by a clatter of metal as a shower of coins bounced off the jellyfish and scattered on the cliff in front of Damian. After the first attack, the water pokemon went completely limp and fell off the hook into the water below. The young trainer gathered up the coins and put more bait on the hook. After casting the line out again, Damian sat down. "While it got us some money, that almost seemed like a wast—" The young trainer was cut short when there was another tug on his line. The process was repeated until he pulled up…another Tentacool. Once again the command was given and there was a loud "Ding!" followed quickly by a metallic clatter and a Tentacool falling back into the ocean. There were more repeated actions until Damian sat down again. "Either somebody’s playing a joke on me, or something strange is going on her—" There was another tug on the line. The line was pulled up yet again, this time revealing…yet another Tentacool. Unnoticed by Damian, his other pokemon trained, but not quite as he instructed. "Chan!" Bruiser shouted out as one of the Hitmonchan’s arms went up. Blade mimicked the move, bringing its bladed arm up just in time to block the arm attack that Kabutops sliced with. The sound of metal striking metal was heard as the block occurred. Kabutops slashed with its other arm. "Mon!" Bruiser moved its other arm up and Blade followed suit, blocking the strike. "Chan!" Another strike that was blocked. "Mon!" Another blocked strike. "Mon!" and again. "Chan! Mon! Chan! Chan! Mon! Chan! Mon! Mon! Mon! Chan!" Anybody watching from afar would see a humanoid figure choreographing a dazzling display of flashing blades rapidly striking each other in a seemingly chaotic dance of light and sound. In the background of this display the loud "Ding!" followed by a metallic clatter had become frequent and regular enough to seem like one of the test-your-strength machines that annoy one in an arcade by ringing an alarm as someone punches a bag into it. The passage of time was almost too eventful for Drake as he spent the time trying to keep his tail from attacked by the rambunctious young Nidoran. He had begun to get tired of the game of removing his tail from harm’s way, but the eager young pokemon had not. While Shields had tried to help, there wasn’t a lot he could do once the pair decided to have their fun. It was a break for the Mr. Mime since it had been playing with them quite a bit, however. Drake finally decided to do something about the more aggressive assailant and wrapped Spunky with his tail. "Ran! Ran! <Hey! What’s the deal!>" Cuddles got a devilish grin on her face as she saw her brother snared helplessly in the dragonite’s moving tail. Spunky caught sight of the look on his sister’s face. "Ran! Ni! Ni! Do! Nidoran! <Hey! What’re you doing? Don’t do it! You could hit me!>" Cuddles leapt with a joyful "Niddoo!" getting Drake’s tail and her brother at the same time. Damian had now accumulated quite a pile of coins and didn’t bother to sit down when a he cast a fresh line into the ocean. At this point, he pointed his pokedex at one of the last Tentacool as it fell back into the sea. He read the screen and said "If I’d known that they always traveled in groups I would’ve gone somewhere else after the first five!" After a quick tug on the line, the pattern was repeated again until the coins scattered off the Tentacool. Normally at this point, they would fall into the sea, fainted from the attack. This one leapt off the hook and landed on the cliff. "This one actually seems like it might be a strong pokemon. Kaboodle, Scratch!" The feline pokemon complied and slashed at the jellyfish. The water pokemon still didn’t faint. In fact, it returned the favor by shooting a powerful stream of water at its attacker. While this happened Damian got a pokeball from his backpack. "This is my last empty pokeball, but I should be able to afford a few more after this trip. Besides, this one might actually be worth it." Damian finished muttering to himself and threw the ball at the Tentacool as it began to whip a tentacle at Kaboodle. The pokeball struck the water pokemon and it disappeared in a familiar red glow. The ball shook for what seemed like an obligatory two times and then became still. "Now I have two pokemon that I haven’t named. I think up names later. Now seems like a good time to leave. I did everything that I set out to do. What do you think, Kaboodle?" The persian quickly shook the excess water from its head, then answered the question with a deep rumbling purr. Without even looking Damian shouted out "Drake! Could you make sure everybody’s ready to go?". He then packed up the scattered coins and the rented equipment. By the time he turned to look, all of the pokemon were lined up and ready to go. Bulletproof had even taken up its regular orbit around the young trainer’s head. "Alright, let’s go return the rod and then head back to the Pokemon Center." Damian once again led the group of pokemon out into the city. TBC… Jeff Hauser