From: Ali Oceanmist <alioceanmist@aol.com> Subject: [PW!] And So It Began Date: Saturday, December 04, 1999 10:55 AM The thunder crashed, then lightning lit the sky, causing the clouds that were above to stand out, each of them a different color. It might have been a torrential storm, but the skies were so beautiful. Ali gazed into the sky as she was upon the motor boat to Pallet Town, where she would take everything from there and head to Viridian Forest, where her journey really would begin. Ali's faithful Charmeleon, Agiottoee, watched the storm with his trainer, but from inside the small shelter upon the boat. Sure, it was a marvelous sight to see, but water weakens fire, as many should know, and the rains were pouring down like it was nobody's business. His trainer spun around, laughing and leaping in small puddles that had formed on the deck, the driver standing there, smiling to himself as he watched the ocean before him, being extra careful with the waves and the Pokémon beneath the boat. The last thing he would want to do was hit a Dewgong, or a Gyarados, especially. Dewgongs were protected, and if he hit a Gyarados, who know how angry the beast could get. It wouldn't matter, the thing would destroy the boat and everything upon it no matter how mad it got. Ali's Scyther sat in the corner of the shelter, upon a small, greenish velvet pillow, his two, long blades for arms folded over his chest. Beside the green bug was Dratini curled into a ball. He had a strange aura surrounding him the past few days, no one knew why, possibly because his time neared. His time to evolve. What a marvelous sight it would be to see the rare creature evolve into such a wonderful thing as the rare, powerful, graceful, not to mention extremely cute Pokémon such as Dragonair. Just the name of Dratini's evolved form made him quiver with excitement. He had been waiting such a long time to finally change into the beautiful creature, and his time was nearing. Ali's Seel, on the other hand, was on the deck with his trainer, sploshing around in the small puddles of rain water. Every so often he would stop, clap his flippers together, and chant, "Seel! Seel! Seel!" He and Ali were have such a marvelous time there. The boat was only a few minutes from Pallet, and the rains were making them feel so refreshed and ready for the long trip ahead of them. "We are almost to Pallet, Lass." The driver said to Ali as they glided across the water. Ali stopped leaping around for a moment, along with her Seel, and glanced at the driver. "How far are we? I'm so anxious to be there!" She replied with a shaky voice. She had been waiting a long time for this dream of her's to come true. "About 2 minutes, I'm estimatin'. Yep, we should be there real soon. Better get your stuff together, and try to dry off. There's some towels inside the shelter." He only looked over his shoulder for a moment as his said the few last words of that sentence. Ali then looked down at Seel, pulling a PokéBall away from her belt and pointing it at the sea lion Pokémon, it returning in a flash of red light. She then ran inside the shelter, sopping wet. Scyther opened his eyes, but didn't move a muscle. Charmeleon and Dratini lifted both their heads and looked directly at their trainer. "We're almost there, you guys. It's time to go into your PokéBalls!" She stated, pulling out three PokéBalls. Scyther nodded, then immediately returned to his PokéBall marked with a golden "S" just above the button, as so did Charmeleon and Dratini, who also had special things attached to their PokéBalls. Just as Ali was finished wrining out her clothing and drying the water off of her skin, the boat came to a complete halt. They had arrived in Pallet! She screamed with excitement as she reached down, snatching her backpack from the soaking wet ground beneath her and swung it over her shoulder, along with a few towels for her to use later. She ran out of the shelter, and leaped off the boat and on to the sandy ground below. She took one last look at the boat she had ridden on, then up at the driver of the boat. She remembered she had already paid him, so she gave him a small smile before turning and running in the other direction, toward the town. The driver let out a heavy sigh, then glanced at the watery mess in the shelter and on the deck. He chuckled a bit, then looked back at what was now the tiny figure of the girl running toward the town. "There goes another one." He whispered, then he started up his boat, turned, and headed back to Cinnabar Island.