From: Adrian Tymes <wingcat@pacbell.net> Subject: [PW!] To protect the world from Doppler-station... Date: Saturday, September 18, 1999 5:08 PM Doppler's new day was promising to be as bad as his previous one. Almost worn out from merging with his former disciple and defeating a new enemy, not to mention the heavy activities that had occupied his day prior to that battle, he pushed on nonetheless, wanting to find and surpass his own limits. To that end, he had teleported to Vermillion City, intent on checking up on various plans...only to run out of teleport power when he arrived. For someone used to travelling by teleport, this was a significant problem. The Pokemon Center was closer than his bases; mentally gritting his teeth, he headed for it, trying to look like just another Ditto. Not caring who saw him, he did not notice when Seth and Aerie nearly stepped on him. After recovering from sweatdrops, and confirming that Doppler was ignoring them if he was even aware of their presence, Aerie set baby Doppler on Slasher's head. "Slasher, could you please...entertain our guest for a moment. Somewhere nice, safe, and out of sight. Please?" "Purr..." "I'll buy you a bag of pokenip afterwards!" "Sian!" Slasher took off for the back alleys, his passenger hanging on and seemingly enjoying the ride. Seth stared after Doppler. "Aerie, I get the feeling you're planning something dangerous that could cause major trouble if everything goes according to plan." "You know me too well." She smirked. "As long as you've made us Rockets anyway, we might as well get some use of it..." ["Who's that Pokemon?"] Nurse Joy has seen a lot of unusual things. On her scale, a wild Pokemon asking for treatment was, frankly, normal. As usual, the wild one who was aware enough to be able to speak wished to remain wild, so Joy placed a pokeball on the healing machine. This Ditto could fight it while the machine healed him, then escape when it was done. It was, she mused, too bad that her other healing equipment - machines that could heal pokemon outside of their balls - had recently been stolen by Doppler's crew...but she had no clue how ironic that thought was at the moment. "Ready?" "Let us get this over with." The distaste in Doppler's voice practically oozed like a Muk. He triggered the pokeball, diving in almost before its capture beam could turn him to energy. Joy activated the healing machine as soon as the ball closed, watching as the ball kept rocking even as its contents were healed. Which may have been why her first clue as to the smoke bomb at the entrance was when she smelled its exhaust. "Prepare for trouble!" "And make it double!" Joy, and everyone in the Pokemon Center, ducked for cover as the all- too-familiar motto rolled on. The voices were different than the infamous duo, but a Team Rocket attack was a Team Rocket attack, and the procedures were the same: stay down, evacuate the pokemon, and Team Rocket goes away defeated once again with no harm done. Standard evacuation procedures stated that any pokemon actually in healing machines were evacuated only after the machines could complete their cycles, for safety reasons. About two minutes into the evac, though, well after the motto had ended and long enough for the smoke to begin to clear, Joy wondered why there was none of the usual ruckus from invading Rockets. When she looked up, the lobby's only occupants were the trainers who had been there to begin with. Another minute later, a trainer walked up to the center's doors carrying a boom box. "Anyone lose this? I found it just outside..." Quickly deducing a stealth raid, the trainers checked their pokeballs, but all were accounted for. Joy noticed that the healing machine was now empty, and figured that the Ditto must have gotten out by himself as planned... ["It's Doppler!" "(Die, pathetic worms.)"] "Are you sure this is safe?" Aerie smiled at the still-gently-rocking pokeball, now bound by sturdy chains with no slack. "Quite. Doppler can't use his powers in this state; he can only try to force the ball open." She kissed the ball. "Let me just savor the poetic irony of the moment." "You've been savoring it for fifteen minutes!" "I know. I could enjoy this all day..." TBC?