From: Adrian Tymes <wingcat@pacbell.net> Subject: Re: [PW!] When Ditto Attack! Date: Monday, August 30, 1999 10:55 PM Maria Rocket wrote: > Having grown tired of wrestling Seth for Mimic, the Rocket had turned towards a > seemingly easier target. Aerie saw him coming, but he was fast. He had her > inside the clear box before she could react. She tried to transform, but a > strange crackling energy inside the box kept her from doing so. Aerie glared > and started shouting at him, but it was soundproof as well. > > "Don't worry little Ditto, it's safer for everyone while you're in there," the > Rocket smiled cruelly. He gave the surface a tap. "And I'm sure you'll bring > me a good price too." > > The oblivious crowd had started cheering for the thief. Then out of the corner > of his eye, he spotted the boy he'd shoved over just before. He frowned as > 'Seth' pushed his hair away from his face and moved towards him. > > "Give...mee....Mi...my....Ditto." "I'm afraid I'm going to have to take it in. There's laws against letting vicious pokemon walk around outside their pokeballs." 'Seth's' frown deepened. "I'm sure there are. You'd know all about following the law, wouldn't you?" "I don't have time for this," the Rocket sniffed. He ran for the safety of the crowd. "No you don't!" But 'Seth' was just a hair too slow. The crowd closed around the thief, barring his pursuer's path. "Out of my way!" The mob's response was an incoherent mass of catcalls and jeers. But the meaning of the fist that sent 'Seth' staggering back was crystal clear. And then, something snapped. "HY-" --- Seth woke with a pounding headache. "Aerie? Mimic?" "Over here." Then, softer, "Shh. It's going to be ok. They won't bother us now." And an eerie warbling, which Seth knew he had never heard in his life, and yet somehow recognized deep in his heart. Seth struggled to his feet, eyes straining to focus. #Pause. Change. Recover. Better.# With eyes wiped of all fatigue, the scene snapped into focus. Over there was Aerie, holding Mimic, her as a human and he as a Ditto. Seth could not see Ditto's face, but from the way Aerie was cradling him to her stomach, he guessed that feature was hidden in her wardrobe. The sounds of a lightly touristed street were no longer present; indeed, the silence was nearly oppresive. No one else was in sight, although there was that decorated red carpet with a shattered plastic container at the end... #...# Seth blinked. #Ick.# "Shh. It'll be ok, Mimic. No one else saw you but me. No one has to know." "MIMIC know. Mimic...know...Mimic hate Mimic for what Mimic do again. Mimic promise no more...but come so easily...please, no let Mimic..." "No. Grow up, Mimic. You must be strong, even when you tap your darkest anger. That's what my dad told me, and it's one thing I agree with him on. Your anger is a part of you; it can either lend you power or destroy you. Don't hate yourself for what you are, and don't *EVER* deny to yourself what you have been." Aerie hugged Mimic. "Don't ever let guilt alone get in the way of power. Everyone needs power to live. Don't guilt yourself to death." Seth slowly processed Aerie's words. This, to put it mildly, was a side of her he had almost never seen before. "Now, let's go. We've got to get out of here with Seth before the authorities arrive." "Umm...actually..." "Seth!" Aerie leapt up and hugged him with one arm, carefully holding Mimic with her other. "Come on, we should leave." "Right." He followed her, running into some back allies. Why was he not amazed that she seemed to know her way around, when he thought she had never been here before? Two minutes later, they stopped, out of sight of the dead mass and ready to step out into a completely different, and active, boulevard. "Feeling better, Mimic?" "Mimic...think so." He morphed into a small Slowbro, the natural lethargic expression of the species aptly hiding his remaining sadness. "Umm, Aerie, about what you said back there..." "Don't worry about it, Seth." Aerie laid her wrists around his neck and looked into his eyes. "Mimic was just doing *too* good an imitation of you." Seth frowned in confusion. "Oh, come on, Seth. You know you'd have done the same for me." Before he could say "no", his lips locked with hers. By the time they came up for air, their former topic of conversation had left Seth's short term memory. TBC?