From: Viashino <aashe@email.msn.com> Subject: [PW!] The lucky Polywag Date: Friday, August 20, 1999 6:36 AM There were few customers inside, so they were seated and waited on rather quickly. They ordered soft drinks, and Nova scanned the menu. She let out a groan of disappointment. Derek looked up from his plastic covered sheet. “What’s the matter, Nova?” “I was really looking forward to having a dish of Magikarp sushi, but it is ten dollars.” She said with a frown. “Don’t worry about it. Ill pick up the tab.” He bravely volunteered. “Are you sure?” “Take it. It’s on me.” “Thank you, Derek. You have real class.” She gave him one of her infamous heart-melting smiles. He swam in that smile, falling head over heels in love. The waiter came back and asked what they wanted. Derek ordered for the both of them, sushi for Nova, and fried Magikarp for himself. They waited for their food to cook (well, technically speaking), and tiredly looked around. Derek saw a small, glum looking man huddled in a corner booth. Being the sympathetic type that he was, he approached the man. “Sir, I couldn’t help but notice the fact that you are sitting her all alone, obviously with a predicament. Anything I can help you with?” “Not unless you’re a Pokémon trainer.” He sighed, depressed. “It just so happens that I am a Pokémon trainer.” He lifted up his Mankey in its Pokéball. “So what can I help you with?” With hope in his eyes, the man looked at Derek in a pleading manner. “I am the manager of this place, and we have been having some real problems lately. The mascot of our restaurant is the Gyarados. However, It is frightening all of our potential customers. I got a new water Pokémon, a Polywag (That’s why I’m gonna change the name of this place to The Lucky Polywag). My Gyarados wasn’t too happy about that, and has tried to escape on several occasions. I think it needs a new master. Would you be willing to take Gyarados off my hands?” Derek suddenly began to get excited. “I would be happy to!” He nearly shouted. “Oh, thank you! It is very loyal, and will listen to you better then it would me, at least now it would.” He said, and dropped a Pokéball into Derek’s hands. “Take very good care of it. I raised it from a Magikarp.” He said. With that said, he happily danced into the kitchen through the double-hinged doors. ‘Amazing.’ Derek thought. It was one day into the journey, and he already had two very powerful Pokémon. ‘Not too shabby at all.’ He smiled inside his head. Suddenly, he had an idea. He put away his new Pokémon and brought out his red Pokédex. He flipped open the cover and spoke into the microphone. “Gyarados.” He stated clearly. A picture came up on the screen. One not unlike the picture on the front of the restaurant. A robotic voice spoke to him. Loud enough so that people turned their heads to glance at the source of the disturbance. “Gyarados. A very large Water/Flying type Pokémon. They are extremely vicious, and are notoriously powerful. Handle with extreme caution.” It warned. The scene containing the frightening monster faded. He happily put away his Pokédex and walked back to his table, humming. “What are you so happy about?” Nova demanded. “I got a new Pokémon.” He smiled. “It’s called a Gyarados.” Nova got very quite, knowing the awesome power of the legendary creature. He reassured her that he could handle it, but she still held back. He repeated the story to her that the old man had told him. “It will come in handy when we fight Flint. Gyarados is a Water type Pokémon, and Flint deals only with Rock type, and as every trainer knows, Water is super effective against rock.” Nova was still unsure about the aggressive Pokémon, but seeing Derek’s utter confidence in himself, she gradually loosed up. The waiter returned with their food and a bit of good news. “Our manager told us to give the kids at table 9 their food on the house. So here you go, on the house.” He handed Nova her sushi and Derek his fried Magikarp. Both ate heartily, delighted at their good fortune. They later left the restaurant, thanking the waiter profusely. They walked about 30 seconds when they heard a loud shrill scream. They turned at the sound and saw smoke rising from the rooftop. Employees and customers alike were scrambling for the nearest exits. The restaurant was on fire! The couple ran back to the flaming building, helping the horrified people out of the giant oven. As Derek ran to the window to help a small group of people out, Nova noticed a dark figure in a long coat slinking away. The figure passed by some large gray cylinders, and immediately, she recognized the symbol on the side. “Run, everybody! That’s propane! The place is gonna blow!” She screamed. Grabbing Derek’s hand, they took off, as fast as their legs would allow. There was a loud explosion as the gas tanks erupted in a giant wall of flame. The shockwave hit them from behind and sent them flying through the air. Nova gracefully landed in a roll, jumping unharmed to her feet, compliments of her martial arts training. However, Derek came down hard on his back, knocking the wind out of him. One of his Pokéballs popped off his belt and rolled into a nearby stream. There was another roar, as a mammoth Pokémon broke the surface of the water. The giant Gyarados looked around, noticing the fire. It regarded all flame as a threat, so it unleashed a wall of water out of its mouth, drenching the flames. When it was done, all that was left was a pile of smoking wet ashes. Derek jumped for joy, proud of his new Pokémon. However, when he rushed to the Pokémon, it recognized the sudden movements as a threat as well. It stood up straight in the water, and started to swim in a circle. As it got faster and faster, it rose in a tornado of water. Derek recognized the Dragon Rage from his studies, and started to come up with a plan. He struggled to stay in contact with the ground as the swirling form tried to suck him into it. He removed the other Pokémon from its belt, and released his Mankey. “Mankey, counter the Dragon Rage and give it the Seismic Toss!” he screamed over the noise. The Mankey let out a war cry, and using uncanny speed and strength, hurled itself into the waterspout. All of a sudden the wind died as the Gyarados was lifted several feet into the air. It let out a startled cry as it came crashing down on to dry land. Before the Gyarados could react, Derek pointed a Pokéball at it a cried “Return Gyarados!” A red beam reached out lie a translucent hand and scooped Gyarados into the Pokéball. Everyone let out a cheer loud enough to wake the dead, as all were standing in awe during the entire battle. Later, Nova approached the manager of the restaurant, who wistfully stared at the smoking heap that once was his place of business. “Do you know how the fire started?” She asked. “Not really. Nobody does. We were cooking and all of a sudden, somebody said the door was on fire.” “Are the stoves near the door?” “No, that’s a safety hazard. They won’t let us do that.” “Interesting… Well we had better get going.” She thought, suspiciously thinking about that strange figure in the long cloak. He thanked her, and she and Derek left, heading North. They decided in the restaurant to try and make it through Viridian Forest before nightfall. They walked, racing the sun, to try and reach Viridian Forest. It was about 6:00 when they finally arrived at a sign that read: Leaving Viridian City, Entering Viridian Forest. Nova yawned and threw her stuff down on to the ground. “I saw a Pokémon Center about five minutes back. Let me take your Mankey and my Hitmonlee.” She said, holding out her hand. Derek handed her two Pokéballs. “Take my Gyarados as well.” “Are you serious?” “No matter how bad it was, it still is my Pokémon, and I have to care for it.” Nova swallowed and received the two Pokéballs. She could see Derek’s logic. She asked him to watch her stuff, and she started to jog back in the direction they had come from. Derek breathed heavily, and laid down on the ground. He shut his eyes, and soon fell asleep. Nova raced back to the Pokémon center. Although she had been trained to endure long periods of cardiovascular exercise, she was huffing and puffing when she saw the large building looming in the distance. As she got closer, she could see the building was branded with a large P. She sprinted to the doublewide doors on the front of the center. She bent over, her hands on her knees, struggling to catch her breath. She sucked in great gulps of air, and counted to ten. When she was comfortable, she straightened up, tightened the jacket that was around her waist, pulled down her green cut off tee shirt, and walked inside. She went over to the desk. Finding no one there, she rang the tiny bell parched on the end of the counter. A red haired woman came out of the back room. “Good evening, my name is Nurse Kelly. I am filling in for Nurse Joy. How may I help you?” “Hi. I have these Pokéballs, with Pokémon inside of them, and the Pokémon have fainted. Well, most of them have.” She said, jealously thinking of the incredible Mankey. “Okay, you will have to fill out this paper work. Let me have the Pokéballs.” She pulled out a tray with indentations all around the sides of it. “Any large or unusually strong Pokémon in the midst of the rest we need to be cautious of?” She asked. Nova stared at her, thinking hard. “Well, they are all strong Pokémon. One is a Mankey, one is a Hitmonlee, and the last is a Gyarados… you want to be careful of that one.” The nurse acknowledged her, and took the tray into the back room, followed by several Chanseys. The ER light blinked on with a tone, above the doors. Nova seated herself in one of the chairs near the videophones. “Let’s see. There is three Pokémon.” She said aloud, writing down on the sheet of paper. “Mankey, Hitmonlee, Gyarados. My name… Nova Tajeri. The trainers name(s)… Hitmonlee, Nova Tajeri… Mankey, Gyarados… Derek Blair.” She continued to fill out the paperwork for about ten minutes. She was just finishing up, when the ER light went off. Nurse Kelly threw open the door and walked out with the tray. “All done!” She cried. “So am I.” Nova walked over to the nurse and handed her the clipboard. The nurse ripped the sheet off, filed it in a cabinet, and handed Nova the Pokéballs. “Thank you.” Nova said politely and turned to leave. “Thank you.” Nurse Kelly said. “Come again.” Nova marched out the doors into the coming night. She knew they would never make it to Pewter tonight. She was just about to sprint away when the ground started to shake. Nova was kicked off her fee and landed on her rear. She shouted in pain, and stood up, struggling to regain her balance under the swaying ground. There was a rumble and a wide patch of ground turned itself over. The patch of ground blasted by Nova, and disappeared underneath the Pokémon center. There was a pause and then the center started to shake. Nurse Kelly and the Chanseys ran outside. Nurse Kelly was screaming. “Earthquake!” She screamed. The center shook, violently swinging to and fro and began to come apart. The large P fell off the front of the building, landing on a sapling. Like a guillotine, the P sliced the tree right down the middle. Doctors and other Nurses were running out through the doors, carrying arm-fulls of Pokéballs. Nova gasped when she realized the danger that the patients were in, and valiantly leaped inside. She ran to the ER and flew to the back where doctors were grabbing Pokéballs off the shelves. She looked around, and started to shove Pokéballs into her jacket. She had to save the helpless Pokémon. The doctors took the last of the Pokémon off the shelves, and started to run for the doors. The lights flickered, and went out as the power failed. Nova leaped through the doors just as a ten-foot tall shelf crashed down behind her. She used her ninja-like speed, she bounded out the double doors. The Pokémon center imploded, and came crashing to the ground. Nova sighed, jumping to her feet. She handed the Pokéballs to Nurse Kelly. The nurse dropped the Pokéballs and grabbed on to Nova, crying her eyes out. She was babbling about how it was her first day, and how it wasn’t supposed to happen. Nova held her for a few minutes, rubbing her back. Nurse Kelly pushed away and dried her eyes. She apologized, and thanked Nova for her help. Nova smiled and bowed. She remembered that she had slipped the three Pokéballs in her jacket. When she felt inside, however, there were four Pokéballs. ‘That’s weird.’ She thought. It must’ve fallen into her pocket when she was scooping them into her jacket. She ran back to Nurse Kelly and explained. “Don’t worry. Go ahead and keep it. I’m sure the owner won’t miss it.” She cheerfully said, smiling through puffy eyes. Nova thanked her profusely and turned. She saw a flash of black, and saw a familiar dark-clad figure running into the trees. It couldn’t be a coincidence that the same person was at both accidents. Nova ran after the fleeing figure. Noticing his pursuer, he speeded up, jumping over logs, and darting through bushes. Nova looked for an opportunity and saw one when the figure stumbled on a rock. She executed a perfect flip and landed on the person’s feet. They both fell, one of the figure’s boots drove into Nova’s midsection. She gagged and rolled over in pain. The figure got up, but fell again when Nova grabbed on to his ankle. He fell, and his hood fell off. However, at the angle Nova was on, she couldn’t see the uncovered face. The figure reached into his pocket and brought out some dust. Nova was blinded as the pepper dust was through into her face. She passed out as a boot drove into the side of her head. Nova sat in a jeweled throne, a Seel to her left, and a Persian to her right. She heard a whiny in the distance, and looked up to see a figure riding on a Rapidash. They were bounding gracefully over the clouds, rapidly approaching the castle. The figure rode the Rapidash right up to the throne. It was Derek. He was wearing armor like that of a knight. He smiled and held out his hand, and the beautiful Nova received his hand and hopped up on to the horse Pokémon. She sat facing him and he looked deep into her eyes. She held her breath, and they leaned towards each other. She closed her eyes, and their lips touched. “Nova… Nova!” Derek said, shaking her. “Are…uh… you okay?” he asked. She opened her eyes. He face went a deep red when she realized that her lips were puckered in an invisible kiss. She sat up and groaned. It was well after nightfall. “What happened?” He asked her. “I am so glad to see you.” She hugged him. He smiled behind her back and returned the embrace. “I was getting our Pokémon recharged, and all of a sudden there was an earthquake, so I went inside to help get the patients out. I saw a guy in a black cloak running from the falling building. Derek it was the same guy I saw running from the restaurant today when it was on fire. So I chased after him. I caught him, but he knocked me out.” Derek held her for a moment, then helped her up. “Well, it is eight o’clock. We need to find some place to spend the night.” He said. She agreed, and he went on ahead towards the sign they had come across earlier. Nova hung back a few steps, thinking about her dream. It felt so real… and so wonderful. Derek was a very handsome guy, and she liked him a lot. “Nova! Are you coming?” He called. “Yeah, I am coming!” She stood up, and picked up her duffel bag, which had fallen off when she had jumped on the stranger. She ran after him, and they walked together back to the entrance to Viridian Forest.