From: Karnivax <karnivax@my-deja.com> Subject: [PW!] The Other Side of the Coin Date: Sunday, November 07, 1999 5:40 PM Jeez, I'm falling completely out of the loop here... --THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN-- Part 1 by Karnivax "Our life of ssservice to Vorge isss over...for now and for at leassst asss long asss we walk the Earth," snarled Protopticon, as he kicked the inactive mainframe over and, with his wrist-blades, proceeded to lay waste to the tower of machinery that had once housed the dangerous Vorge. "Vorge'sss consssciousssnessss wasss dessstroyed...and now hisss body hasss been obliterated asss well. Let usss make it one of our life goalsss to sssee to it that thisss power- mad monssstrosssity will never be rebuilt..." "Dit to dit, to to dit," remarked Proteus the Ditto, who was not really sure what Panopticon seemed so angry about. "Grrroarrr," commented Inferno the Charizard. He would have understood his master perfectly, but the stench of a nearby cadaver was diverting most of his attention away from his master's speech. Inferno followed the scent to its source, and found the dead body of David Bradley still in a fetal position on the ground behind one of the gigantic mainframe's large peripherals. Inferno casually incinerated the Australian man's corpse. "We can essstablisssh our own empire...usssing the psssychic humansss and Pokémon that Vorge gathered here in thisss lair." Panopticon pointed to the rows of glass tubes that contained Vorge's collection of cryogenically frozen humans. Then he pointed to the significant pile of full Pokéballs that sat in one corner of the room. Inferno went down the rows of glass tubes and sniffed the tubes intently, as they too smelled pungent. "Rrroarrr," he noticed. Since cryogenics was a mostly untested science, the process that had been used to freeze Vorge's collection of psychic humans had not worked in the way Vorge would have wanted. The humans were well-preserved, yes. But as Inferno discovered with his superior olfactory, not a single one of the humans was still alive. "Grrrooo..." Upon hearing Inferno's observations, Panopticon went and broke one of the glass tubes open, freeing a teenage girl. As Panopticon found out from performing a primitive autopsy, the girl had essentially drowned inside the tube. The red gelatin-like substance that had been used to cryogenically freeze her had also clogged her every orifice completely. As soon as Panopticon was done inspecting the body, Inferno burnt the frozen corpse to a crisp. "Hmmm...well...we ssstill have an army of psssychic Pokémon at our disssposssal," Panopticon noted. "Dit to! Dit dit to!" Proteus started happily clicking the buttons on the full Pokéballs and opening them one by one. But the Pokéballs were full of horrendously weak Pokémon...Abra, Slowpoke, Drowzee, and the like. The only strong Pokémon in the pile was a Starmie that had no doubt been taken from a trainer instead of from the wild. Panopticon beamed most of the somewhat disoriented Pokémon back into their respective Pokéballs, and took the Starmie for himself. "At leassst I wasss able to procure *sssomething* ussseful from thessse missserable ruinsss," he remarked, holding the Pokéball containing the Starmie in one three-clawed hand. "I believe I ssshall call thisss new unit Regulusss..." He attached the Pokéball to the electromagnet on his back, along with the Pokéball that Inferno usually lived within. (OOC: The name of the Starmie has nothing to do with the co-creator of the PokéWars...it's just an unfortunate coincidence. I nicknamed my own Starmie Regulus, 'cause Regulus is the name of a star.) Inferno went on inspecting the subterranean cavern, and as he sniffed at the dirt walls, he suddenly came across something. "Grrrwarrr!" he announced. He pounded one fist against the wall, and a well-hidden metal compartment opened up. Panopticon looked inside the compartment, and found attached to a thick metal tube a small and futuristic-looking incubator with a glass dome on top. Inside the active incubator were three softball-sized eggs. "Ah! Thessse mussst be the eggsss that were extracted from young Sssullivan!" Panopticon realized. "What wasss it that Vorge sssaid thessse eggsss would hatch into?" "Rrrarrr!" Inferno exclaimed, pointing to the incubator. Inside the device, one of the eggs was starting to crack. Panopticon watched undividedly. Death had unfolded before Panopticon many times, but never before had he seen the other side of the coin. --THE OTHER SIDE OF THE COIN-- Part 2 by Karnivax Meanwhile, in Cerulean City, Kyle and Jessica had fully healed up all of their Pokémon and were planning to visit the Sullivan household to see if Jessica's parents would consider funding a funeral for Torrasque. As they headed down the city streets, Jessica suggested that Kyle release his new Nidoking. "It's better to get some idea of the Pokémon's temperament now, instead of in battle," she explained. Kyle dropped one Pokéball on the ground, and out came the muscular purple Nidoking that had once hosted Vorge's consciousness. Its eyes seemed to be locked in a permanent glare. "At last...freedom from that accursed chrysalis," the beast spoke, in a voice that sounded almost otherworldly. Evidently it had learned English during its hosting of Vorge. The creature turned to face Kyle. "Ah...I see that I have obtained my first drone! And I have done so without even having to do anything!" The Nidoking rubbed his scaly hands together and snickered a bit at that self-contradictory thought, then pointed at Kyle and ordered, "Drone, you will give your King a name. *Now*." Kyle tried to determine which fictional character this Nidoking most reminded him of. When he discovered that no literary character would suffice, Kyle moved on to video game characters. "Daggoth," he said. The Nidoking stroked his squamate chin. "Daggoth...yes. Excellent work, drone." Daggoth grinned from ear to ear and said quietly to himself, "If all of the denizens of this great hive called 'Earth' are *this* easily controlled, Daggoth shall be Hivelord in no time..." "Where'd you get that name from?" Jessica asked Kyle. "From the greatest computer game on the planet, Jess," Kyle replied cryptically. "This Nidoking seems to think he's an alien...or at the very least, a honeybee." "In other words, he's even more mentally screwed-up than me," Espio the Charizard remarked. Knowing that any possible reaction to that comment would either enrage the emotionally unstable Espio or sadden him further, no one responded. Daggoth let out an unintelligible stream of obscenities as he found himself being beamed back into his Pokéball. Then Kyle, Jessica, Cathode, Thanatos, and Espio continued on toward the street upon which Jessica's domicile stood. After fifteen more minutes or so of walking, Jessica stopped in front of a tall metal gate. "Here's where I live," she announced. She pointed up at the house which the gate surrounded. Kyle glanced at the house and went bug-eyed. Jessica went on, "Now, just a few things. First off, I kept my Scyther transformation ability hidden from my parents all this time, and I intend to keep it hidden from them as long as I can. Second, I recommend you try to get Thanatos and Espio into their Pokéballs; my parents generally don't tolerate Pokémon loose in the house. Though Cathode's fine as is, I'm sure. And third, I'd best do the talking. I'm willing to bet my parents will be leery of any boyfriend I bring home..." Kyle just gasped, "You live...*there*?" He pointed at the house too. It was a tremendous Victorian mansion at the top of a grassy hill, with ornate marble sculptures strewn about all over its massive lawn and a limousine parked near the front door. "You never told me you were loaded!" "Kyle, the thing is, I'm *not* proud of my wealth," Jessica responded. "And I think it's safe to say that you'll see why." With that, she waved a key card in front of a small device attached to the gate, and the mechanical gate opened. Yeah, I'm headed toward PW! oblivion (if I'm not there already). The whole Vorge debacle pretty much killed my passion for this hobby... --K * A * R * N * I * V * A * X-- "The future ain't what it used to be." --Yogi Berra Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Before you buy.