From: Spawn <nmvds@aol.computers> Subject: [PW!] The Great Moon Stone Robbery, Single Post Version Date: Tuesday, August 10, 1999 12:02 AM Note: This was made into a single post version for the people who were complaining. The sun began to set over Pewter City. Flint closed the gym where young and aspiring trainers would try to earn a boulder badge for the day and walked over to the local diner which he ran. In a town without fast food joints like McDonalds and Burger Kings, indeed, preceding many of them, Flint's restaurant was filled with hungry visitors. Pokemon training was hard work, and many of the hungry people didn't feel like cooking on their own. Al Simmons walked in the day, leaving his Gengar and Rapidash to wait outside. His living costume enabled him to disguise himself as best it could by changing its appearance into a sweater, jacket, and jeans, topped off with a Pokemon League cap to help cover Al's scarred face. His didn't come to the town for a badge. He was, after all, a former Pokemon League champ. Rather, he came to this town because he heard that another chunk of the moon had been found in Mt. Moon. Another opportunity to make money by robbery. "Hi, I'm Flint," the gym leader greeted, "what can I get for you?" "Whiskey," Al replied. "Right," Flint smiled, "can I get you anything to eat with that?" "Gimmie a Pikachu steak," said Al, "and make it rare. Very rare." "Right," aid Flint as he poured a shot of whiskey for his customer and prepared to make a steak. It was a simpler time back then, before all the concerns of food safety and bacteria and poisonings and other such things. Before concerns over things like e-coli and salmonella. "You're the local expert on rocks here, right?" Al asked. "You could say that," Flint replied. "If you want, you can purchase a few stones as souvenirs in the gift shop." "What do you think of the moon stone?" Al asked. "The one they just discovered." "I think it's an interesting find," Flint yelled towards Al as he walked away to get his steak. "Why do you say that?" Al yelled back. "There's this doctor..." Flint said as he returned with Al's steak, trying to remember the name. "Charles Evolvo... he's been experimenting to see how Pokemon cells samples react to pieces of the moon stone." "How much would something like that be worth?" Al asked as he bit into the nearly raw pieces of meat, letting the bloody juices flow down his throat and giving him the protein he needed to regenerate from his many battle wounds. "You can't really put a price on something like that," said Flint as he turned around to help another customer. "But I'd say somewhere easily in the millions." "Fascinating," said Al. When Flint turned around again, all he found was an empty seat and some money to cover the price of his meal. Al rode on Apocalypse, a Rapidash, towards Mt. Moon. he was now in full costume. In the dark night, a trail of flames was clearly visible. When Al finally approached the mountain, he recalled the fire Pokemon. The last thing he needed were tell-tale signs of his presence. To his side was his Gengar, Death. Death always felt he was above the imprisonment that Pokeballs had to offer. Al was also sure to attach an escape rope to a nearby tree in case there were any future complications. Should an emergency arise, he could just press a button and be sent back to the entrance. Al entered the dimly lit cave. A string of lights were used to keep the dark cave illuminated. Al was sure to buy a map of the cave at Flint's gift shop before he entered and identified some of the more strategic places where one would place guards. He entered the cave with extreme caution. As Al rounded a corner, he saw two armed guards standing patiently in the event of intrusion. They were trained, but they didn't look like they would pose as much of an obstacle. Al pulled out a pokeball and prepared his next move. "Apocalypse, Pestilence, attack!" Al yelled at he threw the two pokeballs at the guards. "DASH!" the speedy Rapidash yelled as it suddenly used fire spin on the first guard, completely preventing him from doing any offensive or defensive moves whatsoever. The flames closed in so quickly that he didn't have time to think of which Pokemon to use. He soon fainted after being unable to breath, the smoke denying him of precious oxygen to his brain. Pestilence, a Muk, was much slower, however. The second guard had a chance to fire a few rounds of his rifle, not that it helped much. The bullets didn't affect a creature that was composed of grime and muck too much. "MMMMmmmmmuuuuuuukkkkkKKKKKKKKKK!" it moaned as, to the horror of the guard, it grew in size and completely engulfed him, poisoning him with toxic chemicals. "Apocalypse, stop. Pestilence, return!" Al ordered. The two guards were down without too much trouble. Al was pleased with the work of his horsemen. "FREEZE!" he suddenly heard someone shout behind him. It was a female voice. Officer Jenny. She was armed with a pistol. "Don't make me shoot!" "And what makes you think I'm scared of that?" Al asked, calling her bluff and hoping that Death would show up. Officer Jenny wasn't prepared for this. Someone who wasn't scared. Guns and arms over the years had become symbols of power in our country. War itself was often about who had the most powerful weapons. The two standed perfectly still, each holding their own ground. Waiting for the other to move, flinch, or anything that would give an opportunity to do something. Suddenly, Death appeared from the wall and floated between Al and Jenny. The Officer was shocked at the intervention and fired, only to have the bullets pass through the Gengar and hit Al, who flew backwards from the impact. All were shocked, especially Jenny. "You can't last 5 minutes without getting into trouble?" Death asked. To Officer Jenny, however, it merely sounded like, "Gengar, gengar, gengar." Al and Death shared a special bond. Al was dead already. He could hear the words of ghost Pokemon. "Just deal with her already," Al muttered as he began to recover from the bullets and watched as the costume began to conceal the holes. "With pleasure," the Gengar smiled as he used hypnosis to put Jenny to sleep. Meanwhile, Al took the jacket off one of the fallen guards to use as a blanket for the Officer. "She's beautiful," Al noted as he starred at Jenny's sleeping face as she rested on the ground. "Aren't they all?" said Death. "Remember, though, this is the same Officer that shot you." "I'll heal," said Al as he proceeded to go further into the cave. Al snuck through the cave and found a pool of water in front of him. "That's funny," said Al as he glanced at his map, "they don't say anything about a pool of water being here." "I would be careful if I were you," Death, cautioned as he sensed a trap. Al walked over to the water, watching as the light reflected off the surface and onto the ceiling of the enormous cave. As he started to place one foot onto it, ripples began to form around his shoe and grew bigger. Suddenly, from the center of the lake, he saw a shape begin to rise and take form. "POREON!" it yelled as waves began to crash down around Al. It was then when Al realized his mistake. He remembered reading about Vaporeon's before, a Pokemon which descended from the highly mutation prone Eevee. The cells in its body would change to the point where they closely resembled water molecules, and it could actually change into a liquid form if it needed to. "Well, it looks like we have an intruder," said a man as he entered the room. "Flareon, Jolteon, go!" "Apocalypse, return!" said Al, realizing that his Rapidash would be a big target. The Flareon growled and flames began to spread from his body easily exceeding 700 degrees. In seconds, the fire began to surround everyone completely. "Vaporeon, surf!" the man shouted out as the Vaporeon merged his lower body back into the water. A huge wave of water came crashing down on Al and company. Al tried to think up his next move. The watery nature of the Vaporeon took away Pestilence's advantage of being a Muck. And Famine would have a hard time using his tongue as a weapon on a liquid entity. Suddenly Al noticed the string of lights hanging above. The lights meant that there had to be a source of electricity. And electricity meant an opportunity to turn the tables. As Al attempted to shield himself from the chaotic crashing of the waves, he also tried to find a relatively dry area. The water seemed to be everywhere and in every direction he turned. And it was difficult to focus when it was difficult to even walk. Al tightened his grip on the escape rope, and held onto it with all his strength. In the distance, he spotted a group of stalagmites sticking out of the ground. "Death, use your night shade!" Al ordered. "But Al..." Death argued. "DO IT!" "Very well then," Death replied as he held out his arms and focused his ectoplasmic energy. For an instance, the waters seem to part. And there was an irony. Because Death was no Moses. Far from it. Born in the depths of hell, he had been assigned as Al's companion. The waters began to part and rise and then churned furiously. The only difference was that the Vaporeon was no longer in control. Al smiled because even though the attack might not defeat the Vaporeon, it would at least divert its attention. Al struggled to move over to the formations of calcium carbonate, using rock after rock to grab onto. The eeveelution trainer didn't feel too comfortable watching Al try to move. "Vaporeon, bite!" he shouted. The Vaporeon dissolved back into the water completely and began to trail after Al. Meanwhile, Al managed to grab onto a towering stalagmite and tie his rope around it to use as a sort of anchor. When he turned around, he starred into the eyes of the Vaporeon as it opened its mouth wide and prepared to clamp down on his hand. Al quickly moved his hand out of the way and hung onto his escape rope. No longer needing his legs to support his weight, he swung both of them to kick the Vaporeon in the throat with all the strength his could muster. "Pooooorrrrrrrrrrrr..." the Vaporeon screamed as it crashed into the water, and for the first time in a while, hurt. Al grinned underneath his mask and prepared to cease the day. Before, he was at the mercy of this beast. Now he was in control. He reached for a Pokeball. "Famine, go!" Al shouted as he pressed the button on one of his Pokeballs to release his Lickitung from captivity. "TUNG!" it growled. "Cut the cables," said Al as he gestured towards the wires, "electrocute this thing!" "LICK!" Famine shouted as he stretched his tongue out to razor sharp proportions and snapped the cables. The lights turned off. Realizing the wires would simply dropped to the ground, Famine wrapped his tongue against one set and began to carry it over the water. It wasn't too intelligent, but it had watched his master handle electronics in the past and had a rudimentary knowledge of circuits. "Return!" Al ordered as he pressed another button. A laser shot out, forcing the Pokemon to return and converting him to energy. The wires gracefully dropped into the water, and the minerals in the cave floor provided the electrolytes necessary in order to make the pool conductive. The Vaporeon let out a hellish scream as the electricity surged through his body. The lights on one side of the pool were out completely while the lights on the other side grew brighter than ever. The Vaporeon reverted back into its normal animal form and fainted into the water. As the water level dropped, the wires no longer were connected to the pool and stopped. "Vaporeon, return!" the trainer ordered. The lights were all completely out, with the exception of a dim light from the diffused flames of the Flareon. But the purpose of his flames was of heat, not light. Al was now in his element. The darkness was his home. But this would only last a short while "Jolteon, flash!" the Eeveelution trainer ordered. After adjusting his eyes to the night, the bright flash was almost painful to watch. "Death, Pestilence, attack!" Al said as he tossed the Pokeball containing his Muk. "Death, night shade. Pestilence, use your toxic attack." Death held out his yet again and watched as the ground underneath the Flareon and Jolteon began to tremble. "Mmmmmmuuuuukkkkkk..." Pestilence groaned as it began to fling parts of itself at the Flareon and Jolteon. Al began to calculate. His Blastoise could probably take out the Flareon, but he had to deal with the Jolteon first. And he had no Pokemon with a type advantage against that. Unfortunately, type advantages were never a major consideration when Malebolgia assigned his horsemen. "Return!" said Al as he starred at his opponents and recalled his Muk. "Flareon, fire spin this guy!" the eeveelution trainer ordered. Al suddenly found himself surrounded by a wall of flame. His costume tried its best to defend him against the heat. Thinking quickly, he dove into the pool of water, scorching parts of his costume in the process. In the water, he began to cool himself off. Fortunately, he was already dead and no longer needed to breath. "Jolteon, THUNDER!" the trainer yelled, knowing that the bolts of lighting would electrocute anything inside the pool of water, including a certain unwanted intruder. Al tried to think. The air above him began to fill with negative ions. In seconds, the lightning would shoot down upon him. Fortunately, thunder wasn't the most accurate move out there and Al had to take advantage of this. And then the escape rope caught his eye. He ran towards it just in time to see the bolts of lightning crashing down behind him into the water. Al hid behind the stalagmites, where both Pokemon would have a hard time attacking assuming they used their regular elemental attacks. "Jolteon, pin missile!" The pins began too pierce through the rock. It took decades and even centuries for these formations to be developed, and now they were being destroyed in seconds. Then again, it took decades for Al to reach the level of skill he had reached as well, and it looked like he might be dead soon as well if he weren't careful. Al grabbed onto the stalagmite that the escape rope was attached to and began to break it. The structure had been weakened by the pin missiles and snapped off easily. Al quickly began to arrange the rope in a lasso while avoiding the attacks and, when he saw an opportunity, he threw it at the Jolteon. While the Jolteon was fast, its speed only helped if it could recognize the attack. Cowboy tricks was something that most trainers were not prepared for. When the Jolteon was trapped, Al activated a remote transmitter which forced the rope to retract back to the entrance. "Jooolllllllttttttt..." the Jolteon wailed, unsure of how to react. Its 54 pound body moved easily through the air. With the Jolteon no longer present, the room dimmed once again. "Flareon, we're relying on you for lights now," the Eeveelution trainer said as the Flareon concentrated its flames. The trainer was now nervous. He was at a serious disadvantage and two of his best Pokemon were defeated by a common thief. In the dim light, the trainer couldn't see Al. Especially since the costume began to camouflage itself against the surroundings. And he definitely couldn't see Al as he released his Blastoise, War. "War, hydro pump!" Al yelled from the shadows. The cave created an echoing effect that made it impossible to see which direction the voice was coming from. "TOISE!" the Blastoise yelled as it fired a blast of water straight at the Flareon. And then the lights dimmed completely. The eeveelution trainer wasn't sure where to run. By now, he was terrified. "You can't get away from me that easily," Al laughed as he grabbed the eeveelution trainer by the neck. His eye glowed with green necroplasm and shone brightly in the darkness. "Who sent you?" "An official from Stone Town," he said as he struggled to breath. "They asked me to stand guard to protect the moon stone." "Where is it?" Al asked. "I... I... I can't see..." the trainer tried to explain. Keeping on hand wrapped around the trainer's neck, Al used the other to release his Rapidash Apocalypse to light the cave. "Now," Al grinned as the trainer starred at his scarred and rotting face, "where do I go to find the moon stone?" The trainer pointed the way. Al let him go and began to walk away. The trainer from stone town breathed a sigh of relief, until he saw the Gengar prepare to use hypnosis on him. Al climbed on top of a few rock formations and began to reassemble the lights. He already brought suspicion upon his presence by leaving the cave in darkness for as long as he had already. Besides, if his Rapidash would easily stand out in this darkness if he hoped to use it for minor illumination. He then pulled out his largest Pokemon, Blastoise, to help carry him up. Using his costume as insulation, he pulled away the plastic coating and twisted the metal wires underneath together. When he was finished, the lights lit once again simultaneously. Recalling all but Apocalypse and Death, Al proceeded to go further into the cave. "Come on," said Al, "we're leaving. ****************** Al slowly approached the glowing moon stone and stood in awe. In hindsight, it might have been wise if he was able to get a Geiger counter. The stone was highly radioactive and was capable of mutating Pokemon DNA. "We're finally here," said Al as he tried to examine the stone. "How much do you think those folks on the black market will pay me for this?" "It depends," said Death, "on how much of it you succeed to leave with." "I'm working on it," said Al as he thought up his options. The rock was even bigger than he expected it to be. Which was probably why it hadn't been shipped to Stone Town for processing already. While 6 feet or so of the moon stone have been unearthed, that was only part of it. The rest of the moon stone remained underground, waiting for someone to liberate it from its resting place that it considered its home for so long. A chisel might work, but that would take too long. Besides, the noise would signal people over long before he would be finished. An explosion from Pestilence, his Muk, might work. But only if he was able to drill a hole large enough for Pestilence to fit through so that the moon stone would take the full impact. Perhaps the only real solution was to use his Blastoise, War, to encase the moon stone in ice to make it brittle and then try to smash it to pieces via hyper beam. Al had his living costume retrieve the Pokeball containing War and try to figure out how much time he would have to collect the pieces before someone realized he was there. Apparently he had less time than he thought. Much less. "Clefable, double edge!" Al heard in the distance. He turned his head and saw a Clefable running towards him at full speed. Further along, he saw a trainer in a lab coat, probably Doctor Charles Evolvo, with a Wigglytuff, Nidoking and Nidoqueen. It figured, all of them evolved via moon stone. "Cle-Faaa-ble," the oncoming Pokemon shouted as it leapt off the ground. Just as the Clefable was about to hit, Al moved out of the way. The pokemon smashed into the moon stone with so much impact that pieces of the stone broke off, and fell to the ground. "It appears we have company," said Death. "Tell me something I don't know," said Al as he got on top of his Rapidash and began to ride in deeper and deeper parts of the cave. "Wigglytuff, Nidoking, Nidoqueen, after them!" said Charles. Al knew that his Rapidash was fast enough to outrun them. "Where are you heading, exactly?" Death asked. "Nowhere," said Al, "we just need enough of a head start so that I can get a chance to use my Blastoise on the two..." Al paused for a moment as he realized something. He searched himself frantically. "What is it?" Death asked. "I must have dropped the Pokeball with War in it when I was dodging the Clefable," he explained. "So what do we do now?" Death asked. "Run," said Al, "until I can think of a way to handle these guys." A few seconds later, they came to a dead end. Al knew that he didn't have much time before the other Pokemon followed. He took out the map of the cave and retraced his steps to try to figure out where he was. "Come on," said Al as he began to turn around and take a left, "there's an elevator shaft nearby." Al, Apocalypse and Death rushed to the elevator. As they entered inside, Al saw the Nidoking and Nidoqueen in the distance, seemingly unaware of their presence. When Al pressed the button and the motor began to activate, the two rabbits stopped. The male Nidoking noticed there was something was wrong by the noise and stiffened his ears to try to detect where his prey was. Turning his head to the elevator, he quickly ran towards Al and company. Al thought he was safe for a moment. They were starting to go farther down into the cave long before the Nidoking had a chance to approach. Suddenly, he heard a crash and the whole elevator began to shake. Apparently the one of the Nidos had decided to follow them down. Death floated through the roof of the elevator and starred at the beast, the Nidoqueen. Fortunately, the Nidoqueen was at a disadvantage. Death had a poison type to match hers, and her ground attacks weren't very effective on top of a moving elevator. Meanwhile, Death's psychic attacks were super effective against her poisonous side. "Gengar," Death grinned as the world for the Nidoqueen seemed to black out and she fell asleep. But things for her weren't over just yet. "Famine, wrap attack," said Al. "Just run your tongue above the top of this elevator until you find something. And that's who our new enemy is." "Sssssccchhhllllliiiicccckkkkkkk..." Famine eagerly obeyed as he wrapped his long tongue around the top of the roof until he finally managed to constrict the Nidoqueen. He was an immortal Pokemon, one that suffered from an eternal hunger. His only joy in life was causing pain in others. "Toss it over," said Al as he clutched onto the elevator handles and his Pokemon. The Lickitung obeyed, throwing the Nidoqueen to the ground. She came crashing towards the floor, and Al and company soon followed. As Al left the elevator, he noticed the Nidoqueen squirming. Apparently the impact woke her up as well as hurting her considerably. "Death, another attack!" Al ordered. "With pleasure," Death responded as he held out his arms and grinned. Suddenly, they heard the cave shake above them. They started trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. "Niiiiiiddddddooooooooo..." they suddenly heard as the Nidoking fell from the ceiling along with tons of rubble. The distance it had to fall was huge, but fortunately it was able to use Death as a cushion. "KING!" it said triumphantly as it began to pummel the Gengar. "Apocalypse, FIRE BLASTS!" Al shouted as he realized that Death wouldn't last long against any physical attack that wasn't either a normal or fighting move. "Rapi-DASH!" Apocalypse shouted as he fired a blast of fire at the Nidoking's head. The blast wasn't enough to subdue the creature, but it was enough to knock it away. As it contacted, it exploded into a huge inferno. Al rushed over to the Rapidash and searched through one of the sacks for a super potion and revive. As he grabbed the two vials, he turned to see the Nidoqueen fully awake. The Nidoqueen took it upon herself to stand between Al and his Genger and tried to intimidate him with her growling. That's when Famine appeared and starred into the Nidoqueen's eyes with equal ferocity. "Get her, boy," Al said as Famine gave off a single paralyzing lick. Al quickly rushed over to his Gengar and applied the revive and super potion. Nidoking, however, was not pleased. "How did he get down here, anyway?" Al wondered. "He must have dug his way down," Death explained. "Nidokings can't learn to dig!" said Al. "Try telling him that," said Death. "Great," Al sighed as he looked back at the Nidoking." "Nido-KING!" the Pokemon shouted as he raised his hind legs and stomped onto the ground and forcing it to shake. He was apparently using his earthquake. Al bent down and tried to move with the ground. When he glanced back, he saw Famine struggling with the paralyzed Nidoqueen. The fight soon ended after Famine delivered one quick slice across her face, leaving a deep cut. Al looked back towards the Nidoking, who now stiffened his ears as he sense his mate getting hurt. Turning his head, he glanced over at the Lickitung and prepared to use his horn drill. Al ran over to his Rapidash and pulled out an empty Pokeball. "Famine, return!" he yelled just before the Nidoking rammed in the Lickitung. Al began to take off, and Death soon followed. "Where are we headed?" Death asked. "You'll see," said Al. "I know what I'm doing." "How so?" Death asked. "I have a map, remember?" Al said as he round the corner. "Apocalypse, double team!" With that, Apocalypse formed a copy of itself made completely out of flames. To an outside observer, the two were indistinguishable from each other. The Nidoking soon followed. Upon seeing the Rapidash, he prepared to use his horn drill. "Nido-KING!" he growled, just before leaping through the illusionary Rapidash completely and landing in a pool of water. A huge splash followed immediately afterwards. "An underground well," said Al as he watched the Nidoking squirm. "Just like in the map." There was a certain irony in the fact that water could bring life to all living creatures, and yet caused so much pain for this one. Al walked away and walked back towards the elevator, spotting the unconscious Nidoqueen along the way. "Tuff," he heard echoing above. As he glanced up, he saw the Wigglytuff gradually coming down, using its balloon like body to prevent any serious damage. "Wigg-ily-tuff... wigg-ily-ily-tuff..." it began to sing, its voice echoing across the cave. Al saw Lickitung begin to fall asleep and grew tired himself, and knew he had to act quickly. "Famine, cut!" he ordered. "Apocalypse, use fire blasts! Death, night shade" "TUNG!" Lickitung smiled as he began to slash at the singing wigglytuff. "DASH!" Apocalypse added as he fired a blast of energy at the thing. Death followed up by making using his seemingly reality altering move that seemed to cause everything to shake for the wigglytuff. They managed to do an extreme amount of damage, but not enough to force the resilient balloon pokemon to faint. "Aaaaaaa..." it said as it began to rest. Al looked on in horror as the cuts on it quickly healed. "Pestilence, go!" he shouted, releasing his Muck. "Toxic!" "Mmmuuuuuccckkkkk..." it said as it began to coat the Wigglytuff in poison. "Wiggily?" the wigglytuff said cutely as she awoke, fully healed save the poison. And then it began to sing again, its voice echoing loudly and clearly in the cave. Al swallowed a mouthful of awakening potion to prevent him from sleeping, but his Rapidash and Lickitung had already succumbed to the powerful song. "Pestilence, EXPLOSION!" said Al, even though he realized that the powerful move would cause his pokemon to faint. The Pokemon went up to the wigglytuff and prepared for the upcoming move. "Mmmmmuuuuccckkkk..." he said as he hardened the surface of himself into an almost shrapnel like consistency and then exploded, bits of him flying right at the powerful wigglytuff. The combination of the explosion and the poison caused her to wish to rest once again. "Death, dream eater!" said Al as he suddenly realized an opportunity approaching. Death approached the sleeping Wigglytuff and began to sap away her energy. Meanwhile, Al began to apply a revive potion to Pestilence. When they were through, all of them proceeded to go back onto the elevator and leave the Wigglytuff for dead. "We have work to do," said Al. When Al, Death and Apocalypse returned to the moon stone, they found that Charles Evolvo had summoned for a few armed guards. Al quickly had to think of a way to get past them. "Get ready to use your poison gas Al said," as he gripped the Pokeball containing Pestilence and prepared to hurl it at the guards. "Horsemen, attack!" Al said as he suddenly ambushed the guards and tossed the Pokeballs containing Pestilence and Famine while riding on Apocalypse. Pestilence immediately used his poison gas attack, poisoning and blinding the guards at the same time. As they began to choke on the fumes, Apocalypse, Famine and Death began to attack using fire spin, wrap, and confuse ray respectively. It was only the element of surprise that enabled them succeed in TBC -Spawn "Wise Pokemon trainers never get involved in a cat fight" -Brock To reply, remove "puters" from the e-mail address.