From: RobfromVoid <RobfromVoid@prodigy.net> Subject: [PW!] It's Weird to Trade With Yourself... Date: Monday, November 29, 1999 5:00 PM Mithril-rama stumbles into the Saffron City Pokemon Center, still wearing her elegant dark purple sequin dress and strappy black sandals, the latter causing her great discomfort. As Robert, still dressed in coat-and-tie attire, passes through the Pokemon Center's sliding doors after Rilli, he voices his concerns, "Are you sure it was a good idea to leave Andrew alone to take care of his parents and all those kids, Robert? Didn't you just hear that explosion? We should go back and..." "If you haven't noticed yet, we have our own problems." Mithril-rama sighs, grabbing Robert's sleeve and pulling him up to a nearby wall mirror which they gaze into. For a moment, both teenagers feel that the mirror must be reversed, but they soon remember their predicament. Sabrina, the Psychic Gym Leader, switched their minds merely to amuse herself. Robert effeminately places his hands on his hips, "Do you have any particular plan on how to get Sabrina to switch our minds back, or are we just going to march in there tomorrow morning, shouting demands that she change us back?" Mithril-rama nods, "Of course I have a plan, Rilli! Just... give me a minute... to remember what it is!" An hour later, Robert is laying back on the Pokemon Center's sofa, his legs crossed, the back of his hand resting against his brow. He gazes through a nearby window to see that the sun is already setting, "'Remember' your plan yet, Robert?" Rilli is sitting in an armchair next to Robert's couch, posing as the Thinker, with her chin rested on a closed fist. She sighs, "Just give me a... Wait! I've got it! We'll trick her by pretending that our minds haven't switched, then she'll switch them back!" "Sabrina is psychic." Robert dismisses the plan with the wave of a hand, "She'll read our minds and know that we're faking it." "D'oh!" Another hour later, Robert is still sprawled on the couch, now gazing at his fingernails, which have never been manicured, considering giving his current body a full makeover while he waits for a plan, "Magenta would be an excellent color..." "I just came up with... err, remembered my plan!" Mithril-rama exclaims, hopping out of her armchair, raising one hand high in triumph, "We're just going to march in there tomorrow, shouting demands that she change us back!" Robert falls out of the couch in one swift motion, then stands up, "...but what if she challenges you to a Pokemon match?" "I'll just use your Pokemon! They'll listen to me now that I can do an excellent Rilli impression!" Rilli giggles, opens her purse, and rummages inside until she finds the Pokepedia. She opens the device up and starts typing something, "...ever since I saw your Clefable beat Jeremy's Machoke, I've wanted to try out that awesome Metronome move that dealt the final blow, and now's my chance! Wow, this Pokepedia's much easier to understand than 'Professor' Oak's! RK truly was a genius..." Once Rilli has exchanged Deimos' Pokeball for Clefable's, she goes back to searching in her purse for the proper Pokeball. Robert furrows his brow and shakes his head, "You're not familiar with my Pokemon, though! It would be much better if you could use one of your own Pokemon... There's a Trading Machine over there. Why don't we trade Pokemon?" "None of my Pokemon would take orders from you. That is to say me. I mean, they won't do what I say because they'd think that I'm you! They'll see you, not me, though I'm in you now! Wait, that sounds sick! What I meant to say is that I am you... Well, not really, since I am me. I just physically am you..." Mithril-rama hurts herself in the confusion, so she just grabs a random Pokeball from within her purse, "This one looks like it might be Clefable's..." She throws the Pokeball... The shriek that ensues from Rilli is loud enough to make a Zubat envious! Two giant scared red eyes and quivering fangs are set in the body of a purple fuzzball known as Venonat. The Bug Pokemon's antennae lower in shame when Mithril-rama runs away from him and hides in a corner, "Veno... nat?" Robert's jaw drops when he sees Mithril-rama's reaction to the Venonant, "You should be ashamed, Robert! You just made Venonat feel bad for no good reason! I thought you were over your fear of bugs." Robert crouches down and runs one of his hands across the Venonat's fur, stroking the scared Bug in an attempt to calm his nerves, "Don't be afraid..." Mithril-rama's hands go limp and her complexion shows signs of queasiness as she slides down the corner of the Pokemon Center, grabbing her stomach, "I feel like I'm going to be sick... I'm going to have to have Farfetch'd Cut off that hand when I get back into my body... or at least drench it in 500 different kinds of antibacterial soaps! Ugh..." When Rilli witnesses Robert's lips kiss the Venonat's head, she starts coughing something up, but swallows the bitter bile before it can escape, "On second thought, I think we *should* Trade Pokemon... I don't want that thing to pop up when I'm fighting Sabrina!" "What about that you being me not me being you me you me me you too stuff?" Robert asks, still stroking Venonat, who has begun to lovingly rub up against his khaki pant leg, "Would any of your Pokemon listen to orders given by you in my body?" Mithril-rama thinks about all of the Pokemon she owns, and their levels of loyalty, "There's only one Pokemon who I believe would recognize me no matter what body I'm in. Come on." Rilli reaches for Venonat's Pokeball and sucks the Bug in just as he was getting friendly with Robert. She walks over to the Trading Machine in the Pokemon Center and places the Pokeball on the left side, under a tube. Robert joins Rilli at the machine, and Rilli plucks the third Pokeball off Robert's belt. She drops Robert's Pokeball on the right side of the Trading Machine, under the other end of the tube. She then pushes a button. Rilli and Robert watch as the machine comes the life with humming and beeping noises. The Trading Machine's monitor turns white. The Pokeballs on both sides get sucked into the tubes over them. After a moment, two black silhouettes, one belonging to a fuzzy round creature and the other belonging to a scaly round creature, slide past each other on the screen, headed in different directions. One Pokeball drops from each end of the tube when the trade is complete. Robert grabs the Pokeball on the right side of the Trading Machine and hooks it to the third slot on his belt. "Now for the real test..." Rilli grabs the Pokeball on the left side of the Trading Machine and stares at it, "Will he recognize me? Will he obey me?" Rilli crosses her fingers on one hand while tossing her Pokeball with her other hand... In a flash of red light, a large living gray boulder appears. The Graveler yawns and raises his long rocky arms up high, stretching out even the six long stone fingers at the ends of his hands, "GRAAAVER! GRAAaaa...?" Graveler blinks, "Graveler?" The Rock Pokemon's outstretched arms suddenly shrink into his body cavity, and he starts to compact... "What the heck?!" Mithril-rama watches in shock, "Is Graveler de-evolving back into Geodude?!" Graveler's chipped boulder body shifts and melds into larger pieces of solid stone, burying his face, legs, and second set of arms in the newer, harder rocks. Two brown clawed feet crash through the lower end of the spherical boulder, followed by two brown arms with clawed hands at the ends - both extremities are much more developed than his previous limbs. A bald, brown head breaks through the boulder, in-between the two new arms, and the creature shouts, "GOOOOOOLEM!" "Huh? Is someone playing soccer in the Pokemon Center?" Mithril-rama glances around, before realizing that the noise actually came from her Pokemon, "It looks like Graveler evolved into a... Golem? I wonder if he will be able to recognize me..." Rilli crouches next to her Golem, places her hands on him, and looks straight into his eyes, "Golem... It's me, Robert!" Robert's Golem stares at Mithril-rama for a long while, his face showing some signs of doubt. His gaze goes from Rilli to Robert. After staring at Robert for a moment, he points at him, shakes his head, then points at Rilli, "Golem, lem, Golem!" "You *do* know it's me! Oh, Golem, I'm so happy!" Mithril-rama wraps her arms around her Pokemon, and though he may not be warm and fuzzy, she hugs him just as if he were, "You're going to help me beat Sabrina, once and for all!" Robert smiles, but only for a moment, since his rumbling tummy soon makes him frown, "Geez, Robert, why can't your body go a couple of hours without needing more food? I'm starving! Let's go change into our regular clothes and go to Brock's Diner." "Oh no we don't!" Mithril-rama stands up straight and recalls Golem into her Pokeball. She wags a finger at Robert, "You never take me out to eat! Since we're already all dressed up, I want to be treated to a fancy restaurant for once!" Robert shrugs, "I was just suggesting to change clothes so you wouldn't have to be wearing those sandals all night... Hey, waitaminute, why should I treat *you* to a fancy restaurant? You're the guy, you should be treating *me* to one!" Rilli shakes her head and points to Robert's khaki pants, "I know you haven't checked recently because I haven't let you, but *you're* the guy tonight, Rilli!" She giggles for a second, "...and I'll endure the agony of the feet, since sneakers wouldn't be proper in a fancy restaurant. Besides, after all this, I want to be able to say I spent a day in someone else's shoes..." -Robert-rama