From: Shimarisu <shimarisu@my-deja.com> Subject: Re: [PW!] Beyond Lost Date: Tuesday, September 07, 1999 8:56 AM In article <19990901163218.16332.00000173@ng-fh1.aol.com>, goola2u@aol.compostheap (Shard Fields or Megasomething) wrote: > "Get to the point," said both humans at once, causing Sneakers to smile as he > noticed the young love blossomming. "Well, we should just get out. We could > get lost if we went after whoever it was. You two lovebirds agree?" > > Sneakers shambled after Murasaki and Kiniro, wishing he could stop and lick his > wounds before they decided to give him any more. . . . . . . . . . . . . . Some time later, Murasaki's instincts brought them back out into the open. She had spent the entire time that she'd been walking back trying to shake goo off her clothes, but nevertheless her sense of direction had not been compromised. And Sneakers had worked out much of the path for himself, as the scent of the two Rockets hung in the air in places. Ivysaur had just blithely run ahead, and they'd had to call him back on several occasions. Murasaki had no clue what the strange substance was that covered her completely, but the situation was brought to light once they were out of the caves. Kiniro stood there and examined the other Rocket and the Meowth for some time, now that his vision was no longer compromised. "We'd better get you two to a washroom, you're an absolute mess," he observed. "And as to who did this, who else do we know who would just fire Pokemon at people?" Murasaki turned round sharply to face Kiniro. "This is a Pokemon? Somebody killed a Pokemon?" A look of sheer horror crept across her face, which was quickly replaced by rage. Forgetting her current situation, she ripped off her gloves, then clawed at her tunic, her sharp nails digging into the fabric. She tore the whole thing asunder, leaving only the black undergarment which fortunately for her was clean, otherwise she might have found herself in a very embarrassing position. Almost simultaneously she had kicked off her boots, and left them lying on the grass. She then proceeded to rub any remnants of the goo off her skirt and body, leaving red marks across her skin as she frantically tried to cleanse herself of the terrible substance. After a time, she realised that both Kiniro and Sneakers were staring at her, open-mouthed and red-faced. "What the hell's wrong with you?" yelled Murasaki. She indicated the pile of clothes on the floor. "Pack this together," she told them, "and maybe we can give it a decent burial." "What?" Kiniro was astounded. Nevertheless he complied, by packing the sodden garments into his pack. Anything to take his attentions off the half-dressed Murasaki. And maybe later, he could make her see sense. HQ would not be sympathetic about the lost outfit, so perhaps they could wash it? His eyes fell upon the tears in the fabric of the tunic. Maybe not…. Sneakers was getting impatient by this point. "We'd better report to HQ," he said. "This is NOT good. Some sniper with a WigglyTuff launcher is stalking us, and what was it you guys were saying earlier about an imposter?" "There was somebody, likely two people in the caves." Kiniro told him. "They dressed up like us, only they had the wrong outfits. Somebody is trying to frame us. We have to tell the boss, this looks like it's top priority." Sneakers was barely listening. "Did you see THAT?" he asked. He pointed towards the mountain. A burnt out jeep was jammed into the side of it, practically merging into the rock now that the flames had died out to reveal the blackened shell. In fact the whole area was black in the aftermath of the explosion, which had thrown blazing petrol across the ground. And yet one feature of the vehicle was intact. The blistered paint was still smouldering, but all three Rocket agents could make out the familiar logo painted on the side. "It's from Manoeuvres!" yelled Sneakers. He ran over to the jeep to see what information could be gleaned from the wreckage. But the whole interior was gutted. Soon however, Sneakers noticed the glove compartment, which was melted shut. With a few frantic swipes of his razor sharp claws, he prised the door open, then reached into the compartment and pulled out a wallet, which had quite miraculously survived the explosion. Murasaki and Kiniro had by now arrived at the side of the vehicle, so Sneakers threw the wallet at Kiniro. "Check THIS out," he said. Kiniro opened the wallet, and produced a drivers license. He showed it to Murasaki. "Look at this," he told her. "Looks like this thing is much bigger than we originally thought." Murasaki could not read, but the face that beamed out at her from the identification photo was very familiar. That disconcerting optimistic smile. Those plain, grey, and yet always sparkling eyes. That hair - she knew she'd seen it before. There was no mistake. It WAS him. "It's him!" she exclaimed. "That annoying kid from Celadon!" "It's Mondo all right," said Kiniro. "See here. 'Special Agent Mondo, Team Rocket Elite(?) Maneouvres,'" he read off the details in the wallet, which were conveniently written there. "We'd better get ourselves to the nearest HQ. The boss will probably promote us all for this. Looks like we've uncovered a case of serious sabotage, theft of TR supplies, framing of agents, attempted homicide, not to mention…" Sneakers cut him short. Every Team Rocket agent knew the kid with the sunny personality who brought them food that never failed to lift their spirits. "You don't mean…" he pondered. "That somebody killed him? Sabotaged the brakes?" Kiniro voiced Sneakers' thoughts. "Yep. We're looking at actual homicide here." He snapped the wallet shut dramatically. "Murder." Kiniro stated with finality, as if to drive the point furthur home. -TBC? - Shimarisu (sorry this is so late...) Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Share what you know. Learn what you don't.