From: Roberto Perez-Vila <RobfromVoid@prodigy.net> Subject: [PW!] A Day At The Beach Date: Friday, August 06, 1999 1:22 AM Marvin looks out across the beach in west Vermilion City. What seems very unusual to him is the lack of people in the water. The only people at the beach are all outside on the sands. Due to the fact that there are few, Marvin has been staring at these teenage girls who are trying to fish with much interest. Xerox, Marvin's Ditto, is pretending to be a raven haired woman wearing a one piece blue swimsuit. She is sprawled out onto the warm sands, enjoying the heat her body is receiving, though she thinks it's unlikely that she'll tan, since her form is merely an illusion, much like the magic tricks that Marvin does. She sighs out loud, "You seem distracted, master. You're never distracted around my sister. Does my form not please you? I could change it to suit your tastes." "Nah, you're great..." Marvin answers without even looking at Xerox. He sees the girls who are fishing catch a Shellder. They all seem exited about it! "It's just that I used to fish for fun when I was an accountant... I guess I never got bored with it... Heck, even watching fishing is fun! Why don't they ever show programs like that on TV? Of people fishing?" Xerox turns around so her back faces the sun, "Perhaps they are more concerned with high ratings than your desires?" "Maybe..." Marvin watches as the tallest girl in the group of three attaches the freshly caught Shellder to the end of her pole. She thrusts the line into the water, and the Shellder goes with it, "What do they expect to catch with that?" "It cannot possibly be your attention." Xerox smugly comments, closing her eyes, "They caught that thirty minutes ago." Marvin shakes his head without really paying attention to what Xerox said. There is a tug at the line that the teenage girl cast out... She starts to pull, but the line starts to pull her, instead! Another one of the friends grabs her and digs her feet into the sands for support. They still have troubles with the hooked Pokemon. The shortest girl in the group attaches herself to the effort of pulling the Pokemon out of water. After a minute, they succeed! After a huge splash, a Slowbro is seen in front of them on the shore. Marvin applauds and says, "Clever girl..." "You know they cannot hear you, do you not?" Xerox peeks one eye up at Marvin, who is still clapping. "They aren't performing for you, why do you insist on giving them applause, master?" "Uhh, yeah, applause." Marvin watches as the tall girl who had the idea to send the Shellder out poses with the Slowbro. The shortest girl starts to take pictures of the catch with an instant camera. Then the other girl finally senses that she is being watched. She spots Marvin at a distance, and in no time, the girls walk away from their spot on the beach, the new Slowbro in tow. "Oh no! They're coming here! How's my hair, Famifax? Not too messy, is it?" Xerox turns onto her back and watches as Marvin does a comb over with his fingers, "I'm Xerox. Your hair is fine." Marvin watches with anticipation, but the girls just head out of the beach and back into Vermilion City, happy with their catch. Marvin snaps his fingers, "If they had come over here, I could've performed a trick for them. Too bad I can't control what happens and what doesn't happen in our lives. Because then it would be very different! Yes, indeed!" Instead of the girls, a concerned little kid runs over to Marvin, waving his arms, "Hey, you! Yeah, you! What are you doin' out on this beach? Don't ya know it ain't safe? Didn't ya hear what happened on the south beaches?" Marvin sweatdrops, shaking his head, "No, actually, I haven't. What happened, kid?" "Read all about it!" The eager boy raises a newspaper high, "That is, for 2 coins, of course! This's hot off the presses!" Marvin reaches into his pocket, happy to help a young newspaper boy, wondering why he brought money to the beach. He throws 3 coins into the palm of the kid's hand, "Keep the change!" The kid smiles and tosses a rolled up newspaper onto Marvin's beach towel, "THANKS!" He bites the coins to make sure they are legitimate, then runs to the next group of people at the beach. Marvin looks at Xerox, who appears to be slightly annoyed, "Read this for me, willya? You're good at reading." "Oh, I am so very happy that you think I am good for *something.*" Xerox narrows her eyes at her master, and melts back into a purple Ditto, figuring that Marvin wouldn't care one way or another. Once Marvin unrolls the newspaper, opens it up to the first page, and throws it at Xerox, she reads the headline, "Deadly Pokemon attack on the Vermilion City beaches. Claimed the life of one trainer and his Starmie, many others injured." Xerox continues to run her eyes across the article, finally realizing that the one who was killed was Darius, the male assistant that they left behind in Celadon City. Knowing that Marvin probably won't read the article himself, Xerox decides to keep that particular bit of information from him, "It just says that angry Pokemon attacked on the beaches here in Vermilion." "Why did they do that? Does it say?" Marvin asks, curious on why Pokemon would rebel. Xerox glances at Marvin, "It is suspected that some Pokemon Rebellion organization is responsible for the attack. A group against keeping Pokemon in Pokeballs. Being conservative myself, I'm not pleased to hear that liberal extremists are making their presence known. But why would they target a beach? Silph Co. would be more appropriate." Marvin scratches his head, messing up his comb over in the process, "Do Pokemon hate being in Pokeballs?" "I would imagine that the majority enjoy being in Pokeballs." Xerox the Ditto paces around on the sand, "When being tested on at Cinnabar Island, I personally didn't mind at all, while Famifax abhorred being stored as electrical energy. I suppose it depends on your attitude, but if Pokemon have joined this 'resistance,' then I imagine there is a rather large cult of both people and Pokemon who think it is imprisonment." "So it's not imprisonment?" Marvin asks, finally paying full attention to his Ditto. Xerox shakes her body as a negative response, "Pokemon need to initially be weakened in order to be captured because they fear the unknown. Once they have been caught, they usually willingly re-enter the Pokeball whenever their master commands them to, with some exceptions due to varying emotions. A possibility might be that Silph. Co designed their Pokeballs as a drug for Pokemon. Once a Pokemon gets a taste, it craves more and more. I might be wrong. It has been a while since I have been in a Pokeball, since you never store me in one, master." Marvin looks down at his Ditto, and takes her up in his arms, "It's just that I look at you and Famifax, and I don't think of you as Pokemon. I think of you as my family... and it makes it harder for me to put you two in Pokeballs. Want to go into the ocean with me? Maybe you'll see a nice Water Pokemon you can turn into?" "Don't you suppose it will be unsafe?" Xerox looks up at Marvin as he stands up off his towel and starts walking towards the shore, "Those Pokemon attacked just the other day. They might still be around." "I don't have anything to fear. I love my Pokemon." Marvin winks at Xerox as he steps into the freezing water. -Marvin