From: Bandraptor <bandraptor@aol.com> Subject: [PW!] Scyther Surprise, and Viridian Rescue! Date: Thursday, August 12, 1999 7:19 AM To quote Car'tos: "Beth, i think you gone over the deep end ^^" Oh well. The dusty road to Viridian City. It had been traveled by many a trainer, and would continue to be, as long as there was a Gym there, for them to train at. At the moment, however, the road was quiet. Perhaps it was the time of day, or the stage of the moon... or perhaps there was another reason, altogether. Blizzard stepped out of the grassy field, tentatively placing one paw on the human walkway. The coast seemed clear... no foolish trainers around, to pelt her with Pokéballs. With a sigh of relief, the Persian put a second paw on the road, and started into Viridian City. "SCYTHER!" A shrill voice sounded. Blizzard cringed, and turned around. As she'd anticipated, a large mantis Pokémon was standing before her, blades crossed in challenge. "Scyther..." she groaned. Some people considered Scyther to be fierce warriors, who appeared gruff to strangers, but followed a strict code of honor. Not Blizzard, though. She found them to be foul tempered, disagreeable brutes; and couldn't see why humans put up with them. "Scyther! Scyther!" the creature continued. In Blizzard's mind, this translated to: "Ore...SUTORAIKU! Omae wa dare nanda?" Blizzard blinked. It was unusual, to hear a Pokémon speaking in Japanese. Actually, everyone in the Pokémon world (barring Lieutenant Surge) *did* speak Japanese, but they were dubbed into English, for American consumption. Oh well... sometimes the dubbers missed a line or two. Besides, Blizzard was more taken aback by the creature's forwardness, than the language it spoke. "Watakushi wa Perushian desu." she replied, curtly, preferring to use her species name, instead of the one that the humans had given her. Strike glared at her, as Scyther tended to glare, no matter the circumstances. "Ore no nakama wa... Pokemon Riigu ya Roketto Dan o tsuranuku!" "Per...sian?" Blizzard replied blankly. Strike's words ran through her mind: 'My associates will destroy the Pokemon League AND Team Rocket,' "Naze da?" "Ningen wa..." Strike paused, dramatically. "Ningen wa dai kirai na no da!" 'Because Humans are disgusting,' Blizzard shook her head. "Anta wa Pokemon!" Strike growled, "Anta wa Ore-tachi o sanka shite!" "DAME!" Blizzard snarled. "Sutoraiku-tachi o sanka shimasen!" Blizzard breathed, heavily. She would never join his organization. While she certainly wasn't *loyal* to any humans, she didn't hate them, either. As for the Pokéballs, she felt that any monster weak enough to fall into one of the traps *deserved* to be caught. Besides, if they were that weak, they could probably benefit from the extra training that the humans were bound to give them. Strike flashed his blades at her, furious. He had joined a small group of Pokémon, not too long ago... a group dedicated to the destruction of the Pokéball, and the death of the Pokémon League. Strike believed in this cause. He hated to see his Scyther brothers, mindlessly serving humans. He had traveled across the land, trying to turn other Pokémon to his group's cause--wild Pokémon, of course, the captured ones were useless zombies--and he had rallied a good number of supporters. But this one... this CAT, refused to help. She was no trained Pokémon! She was wild! She should be sympathetic to their cause... but instead, she chose to do nothing! Strike felt his anger boiling over, to the point of seeing red. "SHINEE~!" he screamed, leaping towards the cat. Blizzard blanched, and darted down the road, into town. Blizzard ran, and ran... it wasn't the graceful, leaping run cats usually favored, but a frenzied scramble to escape the Scyther. She could feel the wind on her back, a harsh breeze created by Strike's rapidly flapping wings. She heard a "sheeeek", as one of his blades came flying towards her, barely missing her head. The cat spun around, ducking the blades two more times, and dove under the hovering Scyther. She dug her front claws into the earth to brace herself, and her body, carried by the momentum of her dive, spun a full 180 degrees, before coming to a rest. Immediately, Blizzard pounced, jumping over the confused Scyther's head, and running a straight line, to the closest building she could find. The building was immense, looking a little like a shrine, or even a palace. Before the twin front doors, stood a pair of armored guards. No concern of Blizzard's... she bulldozed through them, hitting the door at full force, and pushing it open. Shrugging off the shock, the Persian pressed onward. The room she was in was large, large and empty. She'd have no place to hide in here. She took note of two stilted platforms, and easily jumped to the top of one. It wasn't a very good hiding spot... in fact, she'd probably be more obvious here, than on the ground. However, she might be able to get the drop on Strike, if she was lucky. As Blizzard knelt on the platform, preparing herself mentally, her tail hit up against a button on the side of the structure. Behind her, a door creaked open, then slowly began to close again. Without stopping to consider the matter further, Blizzard ducked inside. Blizzard took a left turn, and found herself walking down a dimly lit hallway. To her left, the walls were a dirty white, covered with bulletin boards, and lined with memos. Some of them might have interested Blizzard, but she, like most Pokémon, couldn't read. To the right, was a bank of cages. Jail cells, actually. And sitting in a wooden chair, overlooking the cells, was a Rocket, in a black uniform. "Interesting," Blizzard said, with a grin. She sauntered up to the Rocket, batting her eyes, coyly. Rockets were survivalists. Survivalists often had food on them. And Blizzard was very hungry, after outrunning that Scyther. "Persian?" she asked, sweetly. "Persian!" the Rocket bolted to his feet. "Wha... is Giovanni coming?" "Persian?" she repeated, cocking her head. "The prisoners are ready!" he cried, nervously. "I didn't let them escape this time!" "Persian!" Blizzard replied, sharply. It annoyed her, that this human didn't understand what she was saying. "Here, see for yourself!" the man begged, thrusting the keys in her face. Giovanni's Persian frightened him, greatly. Well, not the Persian itself, but the fact that Giovanni had invited it to devour him, should he ever screw up a mission again. He hadn't done anything wrong this time, but he was still on edge, and understandably so. Seeing that the Persian was still looking a bit displeased, he dropped the keys, and ran down the hall, as far from it as he could get. "Persian," Blizzard grumbled, biting one of the keys, even though she was fairly certain that they *weren't* chocolate. "Why'd he give me these?" she sighed. "Psst! Over here!" a voice called. Blizzard turned to look, and saw a boy, chained to a wall, inside the cell. Beside him was a small Eevee, also tied to a wall, via a manacle around its neck. "Bui! Bui!" the Eevee cried, "Please help us!" Blizzard cocked her head, once again. "Persian Purr?" "I know what you're saying," the boy began, struggling against the chains, "My name is Orion, and I can understand Pokémon. If you help us now, I'll see to it, that you eat well tonight. "Persian?" "Er... sure..." Orion pikued. "I can get you a Jigglypuff," he said, without really meaning it. Blizzard took the key in her mouth, and carefully undid the lock to the door. Once inside, she handed it off to Orion, who undid his manacles, as well as the ones restraining the Eevee. "Let's go..." The trio piled out of the cell, and began to search for a way out of the building. "We could probably get out the way you came in..." Orion began, addressing Blizzard, "but there's a good chance that someone might see us. That would be bad." He scooped up the Eevee, and walked down the hall, in the opposite direction. It was a dead end, but there was a window on the wall. Unfortunately, the ground was a good ten feet down. Orion closed his eyes in concentration, carefully trying to consider his options. "Mrow Mraow?" a voice sounded sourly, behind them. The group whirled, and saw a second Persian watching them, swishing his tail. "Persian..?" Blizzard squinted at the cat. "Who..?" "Mraoow." he shrugged. "Worthless stray. Return those prisoners at once." "Stray?!?" Blizzard bristled, "Who are you, to call me a Stray?" "I belong to the master of this Gym," the Persian replied, with a smile. "Do you know who that is?" Blizzard shook her head, honestly. "I know." Orion cut in. "Your master is that lowlife, Giovanni." "Ah, so you know of him." the Persian laughed, unimpressed by Orion's ability to understand him. "It's only fair that you would, since he seems to know of you, and cares enough about you, that he'd have you captured. Not that that credits you, in the least. All the same, I strive to protect my master's best interests, and if his interest is to have you captured, I shall see to it, that you remain here." Giovanni's Persian let out a catcall of sorts and unsheathed his claws. Blizzard did likewise, and stepped forward to meet him. Suddenly, an odd look came over Persian's face. "You..." he whispered, "You're..." "What?" Blizzard queried, almost dropping her guard. "You're the one who... the white Persian..." he stopped, the initial surprise beginning to wear off. "GUARDS! GUARDS!" Any Rocket in the building at the time would have heard a horrible "maowing" coming from prison wing D. Alarmed, they quickly came running... Blizzard scowled. "What's all this about? The 'one who' WHAT?" Persian's glare hardened. "My master...and I... we shall have you." From the hall, Blizzard could now hear the sound of approaching feet. Panicking, she slashed the other Persian across the face; and she, along with Orion and Keri, dove through the window. A few feet below, an irate Scyther was buzzing about, trying to locate its target. There was a thud, as three separate bodies fell on it, knocking it to the ground. "Wow," Orion sighed, "good thing that Scyther was there to cushion our fall. Let's get out of here!" And so they did. TBC... -Beth "Ii kanji!" http://members.aol.com/bandraptor