From: Adrian Tymes <wingcat@pacbell.net> Subject: Re: [PW!] First comes Marriage... Date: Sunday, September 12, 1999 8:36 PM lordlocke@my-deja.com wrote: > "You're not the ONLY one who can do that trick!" > > Gads, seeing what was standing behind Protopticon, smirked. The > dino-hybrid turned around. Behind it was a very, very LARGE ditto. > > "Now, prepare to face the vengeance... Of REPLICUS!" > > Gads breathed a sigh of relief. It looks like he'd get to live for > another day after all. The fatigue and weariness of the fight, combined > with the last two days, finally caught up with Gads, who had an > overwhelming urge to sit down and rest while the two hybrids fought. He > didn't fight it. He recalled all his pokemon, and sat down, hoping that > he'd done enough for the large ditto to be able to win. Inside Replicus's mind... #'Replicus'?# #Hey, with luck, he'll think it's someone else entirely.# #True. I get the feeling this Protopticon has not identified either of us...which could work to our advantage. Good thinking, brother.# Silly Putty shut down his reflexive distaste of Doppler's term for him quickly, then realized that nothing could truly be hidden from one another like this. Fortunately, Doppler either did not notice, or politely pretended not to. The two Dittos, knowing the urgency of the situation, did not bother with any 'master' or 'slave' relationships. They merged, yet both were in charge; there was consideration and debate as in a council, but at the speed of thought, any slowdown in action was barely noticeable at best. Protopticon finished sizing up his opponent, and took the initiative. He stepped forward... ...and Replicus was half, then not there. It was a teleport, obviously, but where? The vector lead straight towards him... A Hyper Beam burst from Protopticon's stomach. Protopticon looked at his new hole, reached in, and drew out a Ditto without so much as flinching. Before he could attack, though, the Ditto dissapeared. Moments later, Replicus reappeared. #That was too close. I don't think I want to rely on recalling whichever of us is inside him again.# #Fair enough. Then let us use what we won't have to recall.# A bewildering array of flames, icicles, bombs, razor leaves, and every other kind of projectile known to poke-kind came out of Replicus's top half, one type at a time; the bottom half repeatedly teleported them in and around Protopticon. For his part, Protopticon armored over the about-to-be hit spots and regenerated as fast as he could...until he teleported out of the way. What happened next could only really be followed by computer, Porygon, or instant replay. Both combatants began a rapid-fire series of teleports, each designed to simultaneously dodge the opponent's attack while lining up an attack on the opponent. Proteus and Doppler were the ones in control of this dance; Panopticon was, as noted, dormant, while Silly Putty was freed to line up counters based on where Doppler pointed their backs (and thus, where Protopticon was most likely to appear next). *WHAM* A piece of street headed for Protopticon even before Protopticon appeared, and hit. *WHUMP* Two teleports later, Protopticon found a boulder where he was going. *ZEBRANKY* #...Zebranky?# #Keep him guessing. Look!# Sure enough, Protopticon had paused to figure out what type of attack sounded like, "Zebranky". No such attack was imminent, but another was. Silly Putty and Doppler both knew how to be a number of things, and how to recall these shapes from memory. However, they could only be what they knew. This configuration offered a way around that... Each Ditto morphed into one aspect of something bigger. Both Dittos paused to reflect on what their combination had become, then one Ditto became the entire gestalt while the other converted into a new piece. Designing in this manner at nearly the speed of thought, they appeared to become an organic mass of machinery, quickly growing to fill up the entire street and stretching above the nearby rooftops. Protopticon shrugged off the trick, and looked for his opponent...and looked...and looked up... As has been described in earlier posts, certain measures had been taken to prevent such powerful pokemon from doing excess damage to the various cities. At this point, any incremental damage to the city that these measures would incur was written off in favor of still having a city when this was all done. It was only Doppler's memory of this morning's artillery that cued him to duck in time, causing the first shell to explode behind him. (It should be noted that Gads was still close enough to be hit by the concussion. Fortunately, since he was already sitting down, the blast merely forced him onto his back and knocked the wind out of him.) Silly Putty took the initiative on the second shell, deflecting it into Protopticon, launching the Ditto-saur into the air. Replicus shifted again, taking off after Protopticon and arming regenerative-ammo Wigglytuff launchers. Shockwaves from Wigglyburst after Wigglyburst kept Protopticon airborne, while air friction kept the resulting pink goo from building up. It would not be long before they left the city's airspace, but in their drive to shift the battle to where humans would no longer intervene against them, Replicus gave Protopticon a moment to think about how to deal with the monstrosity it now faced. TBC? [Doppler, a hero? Maybe. Doppler, being more efficient at revenge than he is at actually changing the world? Definitely.]