From: Chuck Einhorn <unicorns@mmtcnet.com> Subject: [PW!] Pewter, busy place. Date: Tuesday, November 16, 1999 8:15 PM "Dernam, lemme come clean." "What, Luke?" "I think I'm going to stay here." "Wha?" "Well, I've gone around along time, found you, and things have been crazy. Too crazy. After all that time at that, "school", I'm sorta drain. You go on ahead. I think I'll wait in this lovely town till I feel fit enough to continue." "Sigh, OK Luke. Go ahead." Luke turned, waved his goodbye, and walked out of the center. The girl from across the plaza looked around, and followed him briskly. "Lucky bastard........sigh." Dernam recalled Shadow into his ball. He had work to do here. First, the ATR recruiters...... but there was 6 to think about. He had heard rumors of taking stones from people, and how one person almost could have gotten a Thundr Stone for his Pikachu from a Nurse Joy. So...... He approached the nurse, and put on a sad expression, making sure she noticed. "What's wrong, mister?" "Oh, it's just my Eevee there..... I fought someone with a Jolteon. I didn't stand a chance. If ONLY I could evolve 6 there....." "Well, why don't you use this?" Nurse Joy held up a box, and opening it, revealed a bright orange stone. Fire Stone. "Wow, thanks miss! Now I can beat that guy. Thanks, I owe you one!" Sucker..... <Eebui!> "Heh, just the guy I was looking for. 6, do you know what this is?" 6 looked over the stone, then decided he didn't know, except.... it was shiny! 6 dove for the stone, but was denied it quickly. Dernam guessed the collar around his neck would hurt when he doubled in size, so he clipped it off. then, he dropped the stone, which gave a light "Click" on the ground. 6, unable to resist himself, tackled the Stone. 6's eyes popped open as he got warm..... real warm. <Bui?> Fur turned bright, glowed, tail becoming puffier, mane larger, and body stockier. It gave off alot of light, as Dernam thought it would. Everyone stopped to look at the developing Flareon, and 6 finally stopped. <Flare?> 6 inquired, then thought that over. Flare? Were did that come from? <Eon?> EON?!?! WTH?! And hey, why is my tail gold? 6 needed answers, NOW! Instead, all he did was chase his tail, trying to catvh it to see if some weird alien had a death grip on his rear. Dernam threw a quick glance to Joy, who through him a mirror. He got 6 to calm down enough to shove the mirror in his face. 6, of course, thought a huge Flareon was now barreling at him, and ran like the dickens. Out the door. Grrrreeeeaatttt........ 6 ran in a mad frenzy, escaping only himself, and doing a lowzy job of that, too. He didn't stop until he was out of breath, in the middle of town. And it started to rain. 6 curled up in a ball and waited. Dernam caught up and picked the ball of warm fluff up. The buildings around were mostly commercial, and closing up. One remained open. Better than nothing, and the new 6 wouldn't live long in this.... The barren walls of the building showed scars from painting and repainting. Like something had been covered up. 6 flopped to the floor and went soundly to sleep. There had to be something here, but it appeared barren. Feeling along the walls, he soon found a door in the dark. It opened with a small click. Another door lay down a small corridor, and light glimmered from beneath it. Ominous, daunting, yet oh so drawing. The door swung open. A guy, OK, a nerd, sat behind a desk. He looked up just in time to see Dernam's 5'10" form walk through the door, and sweatdropped. "Ahh, yes, ahhhhh, what, uh, what is your business with ATR?" "ATR? Sah weet. This must be the place I've been looking for. Is this a CPD or what?" "Uhh, well......" The nerdy man wiped his forhead in relief. "I suppose you'll be wanting to try and join then, so you'll need to fill out this form." A couple of papers slid silently across the desk and were picked up. Plus the essential pencil. The questions were typical. Just some of this, some of that, past history, training, personal shite. A breeze. The form was filled out in about 10 minutes. Looked over in 10 too. Nerdboy lifted his glasses. "Well, looks like you pass. I just need to check some stuff on the computer....." Bashing of keys nd flickering images followed. "OK, no past record, nothing. You're clean. Pick up your uniform and leave." "Thankee sai." Dernam replied with a bow. He left with a new air of confidence. Damn, this felt good. :Oh yeah, are you aware that you are really short?" "Uhhhh....." He was about 5'1" "Yeah....*sob*", and dove under his desk and cried his eyes out. "Uhh, heh......bye." Dernam swiped a uniform as he left the recruiting station. 6 was awake, the rain had stopped. He looked at himslef in a puddle. So, HE was the Flareon now. He had to accept that. He had accepted that. <Eeeee.> "Come on, 6, time to go." TBC. Ethan Einhorn