From: Spawn <nmvds@aol.computers> Subject: [PW!] Counter Earth: Broken Promises, P1 Date: Wednesday, November 10, 1999 4:27 PM Note: I really, *really* wanted to listen to the suggestion of many people whom I talked to and make this a single post. Unfortunately, apparently AOL couldn't handle that much text and cut my story off midway through. So instead I divided it up into three separate uneven parts that'll be posted one after the other. Anyway, I hope that you enjoy this story. Standard Disclaimor: This story is a pseudo-NC. Meaning that absolutely nothing in this story will affect anyone except from Steve Fugues in typical continuity of PW!. This story has Steve traveling to an alternate dimension. As such, he will be affected. But no one else will because their existence in this dimension is completely independent of their existence in the rest of PW! Countinued from [PW!] Counter Earth: Dead Men Tell No Tales > "So where are we heading?" asked Steve. > > "5 or 6 warp tiles down the road, they're be a place where we can exit >out into the sewers," said Al. > > "The sewers?" > > "If you have a better idea, I'd be glad to hear it." *****One Week Later***** Six days had passed since Steve Fugues and Al Simons escaped together from Silph Co. Yet few people outside of Team Rocket and Pokemon League Officials really noticed. For them, it was six rather ordinary days where nothing of utmost importance really happened. Six days which flew by as if they were nothing. Six meaningless days of peace and relaxation. But today is not one of those six days. Today is the seventh day. And the seventh day, the seventh day after Steve and Al made their daring escape, has much in store for some people. Especially if your last name is Oak. And you happen to live in a house in Pallet town. A simple house, mind you, no more out of ordinary than the six days mentioned before. But in this house, dear readers, is where our story of love, anger, death, guilt and hardship begins. Don't believe me? Read on. Because right now there's someone at the door. Let's see who it is, shall we? DING-DONG! "Coming," said Professor Oak as he walked towards the door to open it, having just finished a plate of stale tofu for dinner. He hadn't been expecting visitors today. "I'm sorry, did I keep you waiting? "Not at all, Professor," greeted the man, who had covered himself heavily in thick clothes to protect himself from the sun. "I've come to check up on your research." "Splendid," the professor replied, "I've been working on some updates for the Pokedex I thought you might want to check out." Today was going to be a splendid one indeed. For the guest. But not, unfortunately, for Professor Oak. For today, his guest happened to be Vlad. The Silph Co. Vampire. One his was familiar with, granted, but not one who would be very pleasant today upon making a new discovery. When Vlad entered, he noticed something odd about the house. Something different since his last visit which he didn't expect. At first, he couldn't quite place his finger on it. He began by taking a whiff of air. Then he grinned and took another. "He's been here," Vlad smiled. "I can smell him." "What?" the Professor wondered, confused. "Steven Fugues," said Vlad as he approached the room of Karen Oak, the Professor's granddaughter. "His scent lingers in this home of yours. In fact, I can track him down..." The vampiric guest pointed to a room up the stairs and down the hallway. "To that room over there." Vlad reached for a Pokedex and used it as a cell phone. It was a modified version of the Pokedex which a tech guru named Mark happened to design. "Hello?" he asked as he began to walk towards the room. "I just made a breakthrough in the Steve Fugues case. You'll need to send a squad over here to investigate, and I mean soon." "No, wait a minute," the Professor objected, "you can't just come barging in here..." "Yes I can!" said Vlad as he shoved the Professor down the stairs and continued to proceed. Suddenly, out of nowhere, Karen's pet Magikarp attacked. For this was no ordinary Magikarp, but rather a powerful psychic who had been turned into a Magikarp through the use of a weapon known as the transpokifier gun. In his new body, however, he was still able to tap into his latent psychic powers. Soon, he began to combine his powers from both his original and new body to form... psychic splash! Vlad was covered with a light spray of icy, icy, water. Shrugging it off, he proceeded to enter Karen's room... *************** Meanwhile, back at Indigo Plateau... *************** Gil Bates walked through the halls of the Pokemon League. He was tired of seeing Pikachu as the corporate mascot. After all, the Pikachus tended to be underpowered and overrated anyway. Their only redeeming quality was that they were cute. And Gil Bates was never one for cuteness. Gil longed for a true symbol of power to represent the Pokemon League. He longed for the unobtainable. He longed for the Legendary. Only then could he take the Pokemon League to truly great heights. "Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres," he read aloud as he starred at a painting on the wall. "The birds of ice, electricity, and fire." For years, people had tried to capture them for themselves. Man's quest for power in all forms. The birds represented the powers of the elements themselves. "Mr. Bates!" someone interrupted. "We designed some new electro nets. They'll fry a high level Faerrow in .3 seconds on the low settings." "How fast can they be launched?" Gil asked. "About 50 miles per hour," the man answered. "What is the maximum and minimum working temperatures?" Gil asked. "The nets will be fully functional at a range of -200 to 1000 degrees celsius." "Keep working on the designs a bit," said Gil in cold calculation. "Trying to comprehend how hard these birds will be to catch would be like trying to weigh a blue whale. Completely unquantifiable." "Noted," said the man as he wrote onto a notepad of his. "One more thing," said Gil, "how's the electromagnetic wave manipulator doing?" ****************** End scene here ****************** Some kids worked hard to become Pokemon champion. They dreamed that they could someday by to be the best. But when the reigning champ was your cousin who seemed to be superhumanly gifted as a child, what was the point of trying? Such was the problem for one Karen Oak. Instead of going out on her own to be the best trainer out there, she instead preferred to focus on her studies. It was easier on her asthma anyway. On some days, she would go out finding new books on Pokemon and bringing them home to read. Just another peaceful relaxing day at home. This is one of those days. Or so she thought. When Karen came home that day, she was a little surprised to find her grandfather missing. Usually when he would be working late at the lab or something, he would leave a note behind. But she didn't think too much into it, and went to her room as she usually might. Little did she know what fate had in store for her. "Why hello there Karen," Vlad greeted. "Any idea why we've come here?" Karen was a little uneasy about the visitors, and didn't say a word. She wasn't sure if she was standing her ground or if she was just too petrified with fear to talk. "We came here to discuss your new friend," Vlad explained. "Does the name Steven Fugues sound familiar?" "Stev-Steven?" Karen replied, trying to regain her composure. "Just as we thought... Tell us what we need to know," Vlad said. Like with Steve, he got no response. "How typical. I know of many ways to get the truth from you today, my girl, but I'm afraid I just haven't the time to use most of them. That leaves only one option. Scope?" Suddenly, Scope came from behind Karen and placed his hands on her head. Her life flashed before her eyes as she felt his cold grasp on her gentle skull. Soon, everything she knew would be his for the taking. Her hopes, her dreams... and her memories. As the scene of Karen's encounter with Steve played back in her head, Scope began to experience the event from a third party perspective as though he was there at the time. Such was the power that he wielded. ***Begin Flashback Sequence*** Karen Oak walked towards her room. When she entered, she found someone waiting for her already. "Hello there," Steve greeted. He had caught her off guard. But she had an even bigger surprise waiting for him. "I know who you are," Karen said. "Figures," Steve thought, "the one time she can help me figure out who I am, and it's in a parallel dimension." "You're that guy everyone was looking for a few years ago," she continued defensively as she tried to look for a weapon. "What do you want with me?" "I'm not going to hurt you," Steve tried to assure her, scared himself now that he might jeopardize their relationship before it even started. "Then why did you come?" she asked. "I... I don't know," Steve confessed. "You don't know?" Karen asked, confused. "Most people sneak into somebody else's house without knowing why. Even fewer through the window, and fewer still *wait* for the owners to show up." "I'm not sure," Steve admitted. He was trying hard not to break down emotionally and to keep a firm grasp on his self-control, but it was a losing battle. His thoughts began to pour out in nonsensical ramblings. "The truth is... I'm not sure of anything... I don't know why I'm here or anywhere else for that matter. Or what to do or what to think or *anything*... I just thought..." "What did you think?" Karen asked. Steve wasn't sure where to begin. He didn't know how to explain his situation to her. He didn't even know how to explain it to himself. So why did he come here anyway? Why put himself in this situation? And why didn't he prepare himself to answer such obvious questions? More importantly, *could* he have prepared himself for them? For the emotions that seeing her face again would bring? He wasn't sure anymore. He had sunken so low in this new world without her to look forward to, without anything really, that he could no longer think straight. He tried to convince himself that Karen didn't matter. That she was just a companion to him and that was all. One whom he had just met. One who he never really opened up to or vice verse. He shouldn't bother spending his time with her, he tried to say to himself. He had better things to worry about. He had a revolution to lead. But then he would be lying to himself. Because Karen's role in his life, as small as it was, was all he had in the world to look forward to. Seeing her face every day seemed to be the only thing to have kept him sane back when he lost his memory after his memory was erased by Gil Bates. He had hoped that somehow the Karen of this world could keep him from going insane again in this new place he was thrown into. Sure, she didn't know him well today. She didn't know him well the first time they met either. "I don't know," Steve said again. "Then we're back where we started, aren't we?" said Karen. "Ironic," Steve thought to himself, "now *she's* making the wise cracks. Some parallel dimension this is turning out to be." "Karen, I'm no fan of the Pokemon League here," Steve tried to explain. "I guess you realized that. But I've looked into your soul. I know you're different." "You don't even know who I am," Karen pointed out. "I may know you better than you think," said Steve, rambling, "or at least I think I do. I hope I do. And, well... even if I don't know you as well as I think, I would like to. There's something different about you, Karen. I'm not sure what that is yet. I'm not even sure if words can describe it. But there is." Karen was taken back. It wasn't every day that a major criminal who rebelled against the Pokemon League approached her in this manner. Steve was a little surprised himself. He couldn't believe that he was unloading his emotions like this. Maybe it was because he couldn't think of anything else to do and was desperate. Maybe because he trauma had gotten to him and he felt himself unable to hold back any longer. Maybe he just felt that it was easier to take a risk in this new world. Or maybe, just maybe, it was because... "You know what, Karen..." Steve began, "it's just that I... well..." "Yes?" "Never mind," Steve said, "it's not important." He tried to regain his composure. Or at least whatever amount of it he could. He wasn't ready for that yet. In this new world, Karen was the only sense of stability he had left. He couldn't risk losing her by scaring her off. Besides, he realized, he didn't even know her. For all he knew, the Karen of this world might be a psychotic killer. "So why did you come here?" Karen asked. "To ask for your help," Steve said, "because above all else... what I really need... is someone who I can trust. And I don't think that folks like Giovanni has what it takes." Karen looked into his eyes. There was something about him she couldn't quite grasp. He was speaking with a sincerity he didn't seem to be used to. "Anyway," said Steve as he grabbed her hand, "I had better go. I have a curfew, and if there's one person who'll always know if you break your curfew, it's Mewtwo. Besides, I'm sure you'll need time to think about this on your own." Steve let go of her and exited through the window. Karen ran after him, but by the time she got there, he was nowhere to be seen. He was gone. And he had taken so many unanswered questions with him. Who was this person, that she had only known from news articles and television reports? And why did he decided to pick today and visit her, of all people? He was right. She did need time to think about this. ***End Flashback*** The energy surrounding Scope's hands quickly dampened down, and he gently released her from his clutches. Karen tried to regain control of her own mind as she fell down to the floor, feeling violated by the psychic who peered into her mind. "So?" Vlad asked. "He cares about her," said Scope, "more than he would like to admit." "How delightful," Vlad smiled. "That which my enemy cares about becomes his weakness. You, Karen, have become my trump card. Allow me to demonstrate." Vlad lifted the weakened Karen Oak from floor and sprouted his fangs. Sticking them into Karen's neck and drinking her blood, the life quickly flowed out of her and back into him. The more he drank, the more he hungered. But he knew that watching a dying Karen would be even more torturous to Steve than a dead one, and with great willpower, he laid her to rest on her bed. "When hunting one's prey, it is always wise to make one's target come to you," Vlad explained. "Steve's feelings for her will be his undoing." Vlad and Scope calmly turned off the lights and left the house. In the moonlight, Karen's unconscious body could be seen. ************* TBC